


Aspara: Princess of All Saiyans

by JeckParadox



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Alien Culture, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, But it's unlikely, Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, F/M, Love at First Sight, Mass Death, Multi, My first attempt at romance, Planet Destruction, Polyamory, Rating May Change, Title may change.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2017-03-01
Packaged: 2018-09-24 15:00:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 45,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9767237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JeckParadox/pseuds/JeckParadox
Summary: When Planet Vegeta exploded, Vegeta's sister was with him, one of the last remaining Saiyans, however, when he turned on Freeza, she remained loyal. Acting as Freeza's enforcer, she hunts him down on Namek, only to come across Son Goku and decide she may put her loyalties with him instead.Chi-Chi isn't sure she likes this development.Vegeta doesn't either.Can also be found on my fanfiction.net account here: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12369621/1/Aspara-Princess-of-All-Saiyans





	1. Chapter 1

Freeza looked down at the screen, lazily dragging a finger across the hologram as the confused sounds warbled up at him. The men at their stations around him were absolutely silent, to allow their Lord to concentrate.

“How interesting.” he said finally, with a grin. “Zarbon.”

“Yes Lord Freeza.”

“Tell me, have you ever heard of Namek?”

“Namek, my Lord?”

“Yes, yes, I suppose not. Backwater place, really. Nearly barren land, no particular peculiarities to make it worth taking to sell for the aesthetic sense, out in the sticks, and studded with lifeforms *just* powerful enough to be under the line that separates troublesome from challenging.”

“Ah.”

“It should be in the computer nonetheless. Plot a course immediately.”

“Yes Lord Freeza.” Zarbon turned to a nearby monitor, searching for the planet. Within a minute, the ship’s gravity subtly shifted as they sped off toward their new target at speeds far exceeding light.

Freeza turned back to his own monitor, and moved from the transmission from one Saiyan, to another, “This is Lord Freeza.” He said into it, hearing the delightful sounds of screams and explosions on the other end.

{Huh? Wuzzat?!}

“This is Lord Freeza!” He growled.

{What? Hey- SHUDDUP!} Freeza sighed as heard the sound of a ki blast igniting, and then silence on the other end, {Sorry about that, Lord Freeza. Aspara Squad reporting in.}

“Where is your commanding officer?”

{Aspara’s off killing people.}

“Well, yes, obviously.” Freeza muttered, “I mean, why is she not answering her scouter? Because the Scouter you’re holding, is her’s. It was a personal gift from myself.”

{Ah, well, uh, that’s because, um-}

“Just get her on the line.”

{Yes Lord Freeza.}

The Arcosian sighed, tapping his fingers on the side of his pod. He didn’t like being kept waiting.

{Lord Freeza, apologies.}

“Yes, yes. Why were you not wearing your Scouter?”

{Well, you remember of course why I needed a new one in the first place? Why, it was a personal gift from Lord Freeza,} she said, the very measure of innocence, {I couldn’t allow it to get damaged, now could I? So I left it with Ranthus.}

“And why was Ranthus not in the battle?”

{Because he was holding the very important Scouter that had been given to me by you personally!}

He sighed, “And so those sounds of him furiously fighting, apparently putting that scouter in danger, must have been… what, the wind?”

{Sure.}

“Aspara, execute Ranthus for me, would you?”

{Okay.}

{Whuh- no! Don’t I don’t want to DIIIII---} his voice vanished amongst the sound of the ki blast.

“Thank you. I don’t tolerate disobedience, you know. Not even if it’s not to me personally.”

{Sound policy, Lord Freeza.}

“Enough flattering. I have new orders for you. How long before you finish with planet Belpep?”

{How much do you want it in one piece?}

Freeza smiled, “Is there anything of worth?”

{The locals are kinda cute.}

“Captain.” Freeza said, his voice suddenly losing its amusement.

{What? It’s an asset. We sell off all those farming worlds, we need to sell off farmers too, don’t we?}

“Captain, anything of worth?”

{No Lord Freeza. Nothing we couldn’t find somewhere else in more plentiful amounts, but its about better than average. If you don’t mind… a couple thousand stragglers, I can have most of the locals exterminated in the next hour.}

“Hmph. Fine. Leave behind two of your men to finish the job, and then rendezvous with the flagship at these coordinates.”

{Of course Lord Freeza.}

“This matter involves your brother.” Freeza said, “And something he’s been trying to hide from me.”

{Need him dead?}

“Hah! No, not yet. My little Vegeta has actually given me something that could be quite useful! Besides, I was under the impression he was stronger than you.”

{Maybe two hours ago.} She said, pleased, {I came out of the healing pod an hour ago, one of the locals got lucky and nearly offed me yesterday. Feeling better than ever now though! They were a challenge before, but now they’re easy pickings.}

“What does the scouter say?”

{32,000 my Lord.} Zarbon nearly tripped where he had been walking by, turning toward the screen with shock.

“How dare you lie to Lord Freeza!” he shouted over his Lord’s shoulder, “My own level is only 30,000! A filthy Saiyan wench like you couldn’t possibly-”

“Zarbon.” Freeza said calmly, “I am on the phone.”

“Y-Yes Lord Freeza. My apologies.”

“Congratulations Captain Aspara.” Freeza said, “How talented! And here I thought 18,000 was breaking a record for Saiyan kind. Perhaps a promotion is in order. But first, take care of Belpep’s extermination, and meet me at Namek. Lord Freeza out.” he sent his finger across the line, muting his own end, while still listening in on hers.

* * *

  
“A promotion, huh?” Aspara said to herself, grinning evilly, “Well it’s about damn time!” Placing the scouter on the side of her face, she hit the button, immediately zoning in on the next highest power level. Only 6,030. Better than most living beings in the galaxy, sure, but compared to her squad, the Belpep’s remaining soldiers were little more than target practice. The one that had nearly done her in was a shocking 13,000. After she fell, her men had the gall to try and recruit him, before he blasted at them for their trouble. After that, her oh-so-loyal soldiers realized the only one of their group who could beat someone that strong was her.

And so the healing pod.

The first thing she did with her new zenkai boost was track him down and rip him apart. She wasn’t feeling particularly friendly toward her own subordinates either, now that she thought about it. One of the reasons she was so willing to obliterate Ranthus.

She blazed past the fleeing soldier like a shot, throwing out her hand as she did so, dragging ki-edged fingers through the soldier’s chest and sending him spiralling towards the ground. Her scouter beeped. 5870 next. Without missing a beat, she changed direction, flying toward her next victim.  
In the end, she had overestimated the Belpep’s soldiers. Or perhaps, she underestimated herself. Before forty-five minutes were up, the planet was clear of ninety-nine percent of its original population.

She headed back for her ship, followed by her five remaining subordinates. They had touched down with a crew of ten, including her, but these things happened. “Alright boys,” she began, calling their attention, “Lord Freeza has sent us new orders. We’re going to rendezvous with the flagship at a planet called Namek. My brother’s involved, apparently.”

She pointed out to two of them at random. “Merring, Tarot, you two are staying here to finish up the job. When you’re done, take the Attack Balls and try to catch up, got it?”

“Yes Ma’am!” The two shouted.

“Get going.” She ordered, watching as they saluted, then turned flew off. “Everyone else, onto the ship. It’ll be a long ride.”

* * *

“Again!” she commanded, the groaning soldiers managing to push themselves off the ground and get back into battle-ready stances. With a savage grin, she dashed towards them once more. One of her subordinates leaped for her as well, grabbing onto her leg and attempting to throw her smaller body into the floor of the training room. Before her head hit the floor, she shot her arms out, catching herself and then using her leverage to flip him into the nearest wall.  
The next two attacked her at once, raising their arm blasters and firing at full speed. Not bothering to deflect them, she simply guarded her face as she waded through the energy blasts. Wincing with each hit, she still managed to push through and reach them, grabbing them both by the head and slamming them together, before dropping their unconscious bodies.

“Pitiful.” She murmured, before collecting her men and throwing them over her shoulder. It was almost comical, as each of them individually were nearly twice her size. She left the training room, and went back into the medical center, methodically going through the familiar task of setting each of them up in a healing pod, before entering one herself.

She submerged into the liquid and closed her eyes, listening to the thrumming of the machine. It had been like this the entire last month, a cycle of training until they were all at the edge of death, or her subordinates were at least, hopping into the healing pods to sleep and recover, and then gorging herself in the kitchen and repeating it all over again.

It was the only real way to handle journeys like this one.

When she awakened, she noted with satisfaction that the first leg of the travel was nearly complete, her ship’s autopilot notifying her of Freeza’s flagship ahead. “Time to impress the lizard.” she said to herself, “All right weaklings! Enough sleep, if Freeza sees you all roughed up, he’ll slaughter you.” She shouted as the other pods opened. Her three soldiers drowsily rose from their own pods and followed her to the next room, cleaning off and putting on fresh armor.

“So, why do you think Freeza wanted us to come to Namek?” Okra, a great red-skinned brute with two small horns asked.

“He’s obviously finally become appreciative of our skill in exterminating planets. He probably wants us to join his honor guard.” Eenud, her second-in-command, a purple-skinned humanoid with a frog-like face said. “Captain Aspara’s as tougher than Zarbon and Dodoria now, after all. It’d be a waste to use her just to clean out planets. And where she goes, we go.”

“Thank you for the flattery.” Aspara said drily, pulling on her grey form-fitting uniform. As a captain, she had the option to use something a little more personal than the default Freeza Force armor. Her own uniform lacked the usual shoulder pads and thigh guards, and covered her whole torso, a leotard rather than simply just the chestplate. She wore the standard gauntlets, as well as knee-high versions of the usual provided boots. As a sign of her former stature as princess of the Saiyans, she wore a gold circlet on her forehead.

Turmerc, a brown-furred humanoid, grunted. “Freeza’s probably planning on wiping us out.”

“Don’t be so pessimistic.” Eenud ordered, “We’ve been successful! Why would he kill us?”

“Because he’s Freeza and he can?” Okra offered.

“It’s happened before, an upstart like Aspara suddenly starts getting stronger and stronger, but isn’t properly snivelly toward Freeza’s upper crust goons, so they squash them. Rookie hunting.” Turmerc explained.

“I’m hardly a rookie, am I?” Aspara said, slightly annoyed. “Well, either way, Freeza will definitely kill us if we skip out on him. Considering his ship is right there. Might as well go in hopeful.”

“Yeah.” Eenud added. The four of them left the dressing room, standing at attention in salute at the airlock. Within a few moments, the automated voice of the ship notified them that the flagship had connected with them. The lock opened, and Freeza in his hovering throne entered through it, flanked on either side by Zarbon and Dodoria.

“Lord Freeza. We have come as ordered. The two we left behind to finish the job should be able to meet up with us before we land on Namek.” Aspara reported.

“Good, good.” He lifted a finger, and Aspara and her troops flinched, wary of an oncoming blast, before he simply used it to activate his scouter. “Hm, impressive! You’ve risen up to 34,000 now, Captain.”

“I’ve been training on the way here.” Aspara said. “My entire crew has raised their own power levels by about a thousand each as well.”

“Excellent dedication.” Freeza floated down the hall, heading for the bridge of their smaller craft, “Now, you’re likely curious as to why I requested you to be here.”

“It’s passed our minds, sir.”

“Your brother and his gang of monkey- oh, Saiyans, my apologies, just a small slip of the tongue, have been acting without orders.”

Aspara’s eyes narrowed. There was a reason she wasn’t with her brother’s group, besides to get away from Nappa and Raditz’ leers. Her brother was reckless. Even after all these years, he still held hopes of conquering Freeza, while she had long since accepted the inevitable. She had proven as such to Freeza as well.

“Now, normally I wouldn’t make such a big deal of it, the prince has been a good little exterminator, he deserved a little vacation time.” Freeza said with a smile,

“But then, while I just happened to overhear some of his conversation through the scouter network, I heard the most incredible story.”

“Yes, my Lord?”

“Have you ever heard of the Namekian wishing orbs?”

“...Wishing orbs?” she asked, “What kind of stupid name is that?”

“It’s better than ‘Dragon Balls’,” Freeza said snidely, “It was a legend, back when I was a child. If one went to the barren land of Namek, and passed various tests or righteousness or strength or what-have-you, the Namekians would give you a Dragon Ball. Once you have collected a number of them, it’ll summon a deity, who will grant you a wish.”

“Sound’s like a children’s story.”

“Yes, it does. But a Namekian refugee on the backwater planet your brother was off playing on apparently created a set of his own. The locals of the planet used the Dragon Balls to bring someone back from the dead. Vegeta decided to try and capture them, and wish for immortality for himself and Nappa.”

“Amazing… did he succeed?”

“No, he was beaten by the locals. Quite soundly too.” Freeza said, amused deeply at the thought, “Losing both Nappa and Raditz to the battle.” Aspara’s eyes widened, she hadn’t known that. It seems that she and her brother were the last of the Saiyans. “Even worse,” Freeza continued, “he accidently destroyed the Dragon Balls on that world in the process.”

“But by proving they exist, there must still be some on Namek.”

“Indeed. I’d like to test the effectiveness of this legend myself. However, your brother had a similar thought.”

Aspara grinned, “You want me to stop him from getting in your way?”

“Once we land on Namek, I want you to be on the lookout for him. We’ll get there before him, but I have word that Vegeta is heading for Namek as well, pursued by Cui.”

“I’ll deal with him, my Lord.”

“I meant what I said back when you were on Belpep. I don’t need him dead yet, his humiliation should be enough punishment for his little unsanctioned outing, and making the existence of the Dragon Balls known to me. He might still have his uses.” Freeza said dismissively, visually inspecting the bridge before turning and heading back the way he came, “You’re going to be his last hope. Either he’ll listen to reason and follow your example, or you are to kill him. Understood?”

“Understood.”

* * *

  
It was another few days before they came to a stop over a strange system with three suns. The green planet below didn’t seem noteworthy, but it apparently held the key to immortality. The two ships came down slowly in the atmosphere, landing on a wide strip of land on one of the larger continents.

Freeza exited the flagship, and the entirety of their crew gathered on the blue grass. “Hm.” Freeza noted, turning on his scouter. “Not many life forms on this planet to begin with, how convenient. Not even three hundred Namekians.” He rose into the air, and his crew lifted off with him, the group flying across the sky towards the nearest village like a meteor shower.

The native Namekians exited their houses as soon as they approached, watching the group descend with suspicious faces. “Greetings, Nameks.” Freeza shouted in a friendly tone, “It is I, Emperor Freeza. I have come for your Dragon Balls.”

The eldest of the group came forward, looking nervously between Freeza and his gang of ruffians. “I am the village Elder Kakul.” the Namekian greeted in kind, “Welcome to our planet, Emperor Freeza.”

“Now then, your Dragon Balls?”

He hesitated, before shaking his head, “No, I am afraid not. We only give our Dragon Balls to great heroes.”

“Well, there’s no one greater than moi.” Freeza said with a cocky grin, “Tell me, why are you being so troublesome? Surely you recognize at the very least that you’re outnumbered, and that we are armed and armored, even if you have no scope of how truly outclassed you are.”

“I sense evil in you.” The Elder repeated. “Depart from the place, you are not yet worthy of our Dragon Ball.”

Freeza glanced at Dodoria. “Kill one of them.”

“Yes sir, Boss.” Dodoria vanished, to the Namekian’s surprise, before reappearing behind one of them and jabbing his fingers through the back of his skull, sending the Namek to the floor.

“Now then, are you going to continue to be troublesome? We don’t have to kill you, after all.” Freeza said with a generous tone, “Why not just leave us what we came for and send us on our way?”

“...No. I have a sacred duty.” The Elder whispered, forcing himself to look away from his fallen friend, “The Grand Elder appointed me the guardian of the Dragon Ball! He designated the seven of us for this important task, to test those who come for it for skill, wit, and above all worthiness for the task! Only when a champion has collected all seven Dragon Balls can he summon the Dragon God and make his wish.”

“Well, why not let us prove ourselves worthy? Any test of skill or intelligence I should be able to pass with flying colors.” Freeza said arrogantly.

“...What do you want to wish for, that you would come all this way, and kill for the sake of it?”

“Nothing much, simply perfect immortality.” Freeza grinned, “Once death has been removed from the equation, I will truly become limitless, the absolute, forever, ruler of the galaxy.”

“No!” The Elder shouted, putting his foot down, “I will never hand over the Dragon Ball to one such as you!”

“Hmph. Oh well.” Freeza’s eyes lit up with ki, two red beams flying out and incinerating the Elder. “Kill everyone, tear everything down. The Dragon Ball has to be around here somewhere.”

“Yes sir!” The Freeza soldiers resounded. Aspara rose into the air, followed by her men, before they crashed down again into one of the Namek dwellings. With a flash of ki its inhabitants were dust, leaving them free to overturn everything inside, looking for something that might be a Dragon Ball.  
Not finding anything useful, she blasted a hole in the wall, and then again, entering the next house, this time around, she struck luck, finding on top of a pedestal a large crystal orb, inside of which there were two stars. Grabbing it, she made her way outside, to Freeza. “I think I have what we were looking for, Lord Freeza.”

“No! Don’t touch the Dragon Ball!” One of the younger Namekians roared, flying towards them, Aspara lifted a finger, before letting a violet beam loose and burning him to ash.

“So you have,” Freeza said with a smile, “that’s all the confirmation I need.” He took it in his hands, looking down at the golden crystal with a twisted smirk.

* * *

  
The next two Dragon Balls were easy enough to collect, Freeza enjoying himself and making a show of trying to peacefully get each ball, before turning mercilessly on the Namekians whether they gave them up or not. As they were getting the third, Aspara’s scouter went off, three new power levels appearing on the planet.

“Lord Freeza- it’s not Vegeta, but someone else has shown up.”

“My guards can handle whoever they are.” Zarbon said dismissively, gesturing for two of the aliens to detach from the group and go looking. One of the soldiers left a dwelling, carrying the third Dragon Ball, when Zarbon checked his scouter again, smiling, “Lord Freeza. Vegeta has finally made his appearance, along with Cui.”

“Good.” Freeza said, “Contact Cui, and tell him to not engage.” the Arcosian’s eyes drifted to Aspara, “Are you ready?”

“Yes Lord.”

“Then off you go.” She nodded, before taking off and darting across the sky, following her brother’s power level of- only 14,000. Had he been slacking off?  
The two attack ball craters appeared in the distance, and she noted the familiar figures of her brother and his rival, Cui. “Well, well, well. If it isn’t the last two remaining Saiyans. And both royalty as well! I’m truly honored.” Cui said sarcastically, energy dancing threateningly on his finger tips.

“What the- Aspara?!” Vegeta growled out, taking in the sight of his sister descending towards them. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Getting you out of trouble, obviously.” Aspara said coldly. “Lord Freeza is being quite generous with you, you know. He’s totally forgiven your trip, considering it killed off the only other two Saiyans in the universe. He says that you telling him about the Dragon Balls was enough to make him forget about any punishments for you.”

“How gracious of him.” Vegeta snarled, “That doesn’t answer what you’re doing here. Last I heard, you made Captain and flew off to the obscure edges of the galaxy, hopping from one assignment to the next.”

“Freeza wanted me to be here, because someone needs to stop you.” she said with a sigh, touching down and standing in front of him, looking down into her brother’s angry eyes. He began to sneer in annoyance, ever since they were kids she would use her height to get a petty rise out of him not wanting to be looked down on.

“How does it feel being Freeza’s bitch, Aspara?”

“How does it feel being the universe’s bitch, Vegeta?”

He growled, charging up an energy blast. Cui took a half step away on instinct, but Aspara held her ground, “Why do you think I need to be stopped? You don’t know what I’ve learned, Aspara. I’m going to get the Dragon Balls, and then I’m going to become immortal, and eventually, I’ll whittle Freeza down to nothing. Then, the universe will be ruled by me!”

“Ugh, Vegeta, you’re just as stupid as ever.”

“Stupid?!”

“Can you still not accept it, even after all this time? Freeza’s a force of nature. He can’t be whittled down, he can’t be stopped, he can only be appeased. Our father knew that, I know that, yet you still hold onto your frankly crazy hopes.”

“It’s not hope. It’s honor!” Vegeta snarled, the energy blast in his hand getting bigger. “I haven’t lost my pride like you have! I’m done scraping and begging for Freeza! And you, sister, have this one last chance to pledge your loyalty to me, or I’ll erase you alongside his other lapdogs.”

“Hah! You haven’t lost your pride, huh? Where the hell is your tail?” Aspara joked, before she took in Vegeta’s expression and knew she had gone too far. Her scouter began beeping furiously as he climbed from 14,000, to his usual 18,000, to 19, 20, 22, 24- it exploded against the side of her face, and Vegeta took advantage of that distraction.

He flung himself forward, burying his foot in her gut and sending her sprawling across the dirt. Cui began to laugh in amusement at the sight, “The monkeys are squabbling again!” he shouted down. Vegeta paid him no mind, focused on erasing his sister. The energy blast he had been building in his hand suddenly exploded in size, going from the size of a mere baseball to larger than a beach ball. The brilliant violet light fired from his palm, exploding outwards and obliterating the ground.

“Don’t you dare mock me!” He screamed to the dust. “I am the Prince of all Saiyans! The Crown Prince! I’ve always been stronger, and you’re a fool for thinking otherwise!” he shouted at what he thought were her ashes, before he suddenly found his world flipped upside down.  
Aspara had jumped out of the cloud, barely singed, and punched him in the neck, flipping him around and knocking him to the grass. “You think you’re the only one who's gotten stronger little brother?”

“Stronger?” Cui asked, before checking his scouter and staring at the display in horror. Vegeta was at a level of 24,000, compared to Cui’s own 18,000… and Aspara was at 32,000! “Oh shit.” He said quietly, backing away from the battle that was now safely out of his league.

“I’m older than you, you filthy lapdog.” Vegeta croaked out, rubbing his neck. He felt her energy, using the trick he had learned back on Earth from observing Goku, and cursed upon feeling it greater than his own. “Grr… I won’t forget this, sister!”

“No, I don’t think you will. Are you going to come quietly?”

“Heh…” he spun on her, punching her in the face hard enough to send her crashing through a nearby rocky hill. “I thought you knew me well enough to know I’d never do any such thing.”

Cui gulped, flying towards Freeza’s ship as fast as he could, but Vegeta caught up to him all too easily, “Going somewhere Cui?”

“V-Vegeta, now, I know we’ve had some rough times, but, uh, we’ve been rivals for so long, haven’t we?”

“I don’t think I ever considered you worth more than the mud on my boot, Cui.” Vegeta said coldly.

“Look! Don’t kill me, please, if you let me join you, I could be a big help! You said you had a plan to become immortal, right?”

“Yes?”

“I can be the Zarbon to your Freeza! I’m not just some common grunt, I could be useful-” Vegeta thrust his palm forward, and the purple alien was vaporized in a wave of ki.

The collapsed hill began to shift and rumble as Aspara began to dig herself out, so Vegeta grinned and leaped into the distance, dropping under the water, and suppressing his ki signature as much as possible. His sister’s scouter exploded trying to read him, and Cui’s was destroyed in his blast. She might be stronger, for now, but there was no way she could find him unless he wanted her to.

He swam away, letting himself get carried by the currents away from the battleground, until he couldn’t see it at all, before climbing back to shore and focusing on his ki sense. The Saiyan smiled savagely as he picked up on a nearby village which hadn’t yet been victimized by Freeza. His plan could still work yet!

* * *

  
Aspara pushed her way free of the rock, growling in irritation more at what it had done to her hair than any actual damage. To her annoyance as well, Vegeta had taken the chance to flee, “Cui!” She shouted, floating into the air and looking in every direction, trying to find some sign of him. To her disappointment, the only trace was the burned remains of Cui. “Damn it. I’m going to have to go and get another scouter.”

Turning around, she flew back to the village she had left Freeza at, only to sigh at seeing it utterly lifeless. They already moved on to the next village then. There was nothing to do except fly back to the ships.

Once she was there, she made her way quickly to the com system and sent a call out to Freeza. “My Lord, I’d like to apologize.”  
{Yes, Aspara? Both Vegeta and Qui’s power levels vanished. I assume you have an excuse for why you not only decided to kill him when I implied I wanted him alive, but got Qui killed as well?}

“Vegeta isn’t dead.” she explained, “He can suppress his power level, to be invisible to the scouters.”

{Hm. Seems to be a common ability, today. The power levels that Zarbon sent his scouts after rose from a meager few points to over 1,500, and after killing the scouts, went back to being practically nothing. The Nameks as well can hide their true strength from the scouters.}

“He also destroyed both mine and Qui’s scouters. With no way to locate him or your own group, I’m currently at the ships.”

{Fine. We’ll head back towards the ships before we move on to the next village.Be on the lookout and join us when you see us.}

“Yes Lord Freeza.”

She dutifully exited her ship and sat on the top of it, watching in every direction for them. In the distance, she eventually saw their lights, as they turned away from their target in order to fly by the ship. She shot off to join the group, flying to Freeza’s side. She began to feel nervous, and risked a glance at Freeza’s face. She winced as he saw him looking somewhat annoyed.

“I hope you know,” Freeza began, “that your job is to hunt him down, now that your dialogue has failed. Not only that, you’ve given him an advantage.”

“My Lord?”

“He’s loose on this planet, also hunting for the Dragon Balls. And while we wasted time picking you up from the ships, he might be making off with the Dragon Balls of other villages as we speak.”

“I… apologize, Lord Freeza.”

“Yes. Well, for your sake I hope you find him quickly.” Freeza pointed at a random soldier, who gulped and came forward. The Arcosian swiped the scouter from his face and tossed it at Aspara. “Go. If he can suppress his Power Level to low numbers, then investigate every low number.”

“Y-Yes.” She said quietly, taking the scouter and slipping it over one ear.

“And if that one breaks, well, I’m afraid you’ll be out of luck.” Freeza threatened, “If I see you again, and you have still not caught Vegeta, you’ll be punished in his stead. If I see Vegeta still alive? You’ll wish you had the first punishment, understood?”

“Of course, Lord Freeza.” Aspara said, fear clear in her voice. She gave a bow, as much as one can while flying, before fleeing as fast as she could, heading for the area where she had seen Vegeta last.

* * *

  
Elder Moori smiled down at the two visitors. “Hello, small ones.” He greeted, giving a bow to Krillan and Gohan. “I am Elder Moori. Welcome to our village.”

“Uh, thanks for having us.” Krillan said nervously, watching the horizon, “Look, how good are you guys at sensing Ki?”

“Not as proficient as you are, Earthling.” The Namek said, “But we know there is something off about the energy on our planet.”

“You guys are in serious danger!” Gohan said. “There’s tons of these guys who look like the Saiyans who attacked our world!”

“Saiyans?” Moori asked, not knowing the name.

“Well, they’re wearing the same armor as the aliens who attacked our world at least. I think it’d be safe to say they’re gathering the Dragon Balls.” Krillan elaborated.

“How do Earthlings even know of the Dragon Balls?”

“Heh, long story. But apparently a Namek escaped some disaster on your planet in a ship. He landed on our home planet, but lost his memory.” Krillan sighed, “He’s actually one of the reasons we’re here on Namek. We wanted your Dragon Balls to bring him back to life.”

“Amazing.” Moori said, “I had thought that the only survivor of the cataclysm was the Lord Guru.” He put a hand on both Krillan’s and Gohan’s heads, closing his eyes for a moment. “Yes, you two are both of noble heart and pure intention. I’ll gladly hand over to you the Dragon Balls.”

Gohan frowned as a Namek came out, bearing the five star ball, the young half-Saiyan grabbed it and looked down, surprised.

“Homegrown sure are bigger than the ones we had on Earth, huh?” Krillan said.

“...It might be best to take this one off world.” Gohan said. “Or at least hide it. No matter how bad that guy we sensed was now, if he gets his wish… a guy so full of evil energy getting what he wants most won’t make things easier for us.”

Krillan smiled up at the elder, “Look, if Freeza and his people show up, just try to hide as well as you can and suppress your energy as much as possible, alright? Heck, tell them that you already gave the Dragon Ball to someone else! It’ll send them off your trail, that’s for sure.”

“We’ll do just that, Earthlings. I wish you well on your quest.”

The two midgets grinned at each other and took off, heading back for Bulma’s cave.

It was only minutes later that Freeza and his group touched down, introducing themselves. “You see, I’m here for the Dragon Ball.” Freeza finished.

“Ah, how unfortunate.”

Freeza grinned evilly at Moori, never getting tired of killing people for their stubborness, “Are you going to be uncooperative like the last group of Namekians we met?”

“No, no, it’s simply that another has already come seeking our Dragon Ball. He met with my approval, and so I sent him off to find the others, along with our village’s Ball.” Moori gave a very respectful bow, “My apologies. I had no idea that one more worthy would show up.”

Freeza’s eyes shrunk with rage. “Vegeta.” He growled, “Ugh! Fine then. Make yourself useful. Take me to the other Dragon Balls.”

The Elder looked at the villagers behind him, and the two children, Dende and Cargo, clinging to his legs. Sighing deeply, he pulled the two of them away and pushed them towards the group behind him. “Of course. So long as we cooperate, no harm will come to us?”

“Of course. My word is my bond. I’m a businessman, more than anything else. I may be terrifying, but I can make deals.”

“Then I’ll do as you say, so long as I need not betray my fellow Namekians.”

“Elder no!” One of the warriors shouted, flying from the fields.

“Stop you fools!” Moori roared at them, “This is our only chance for a peaceful resolution.”

“But, he cannot possibly be-”

“Silence.” Moori commanded, before turning to Freeza, and slowly flying into the air. The group of soldiers grumbled at not getting the chance to destroy this village as well, but didn’t make do on any of their complaints. If Freeza was sparing them, that was that.

Moori floated over to the Dragon Balls, looking them over. “You are missing the One Star, Four Star, and our own village’s Six Star Dragon Balls.”

“Yes, we kind of assumed.” Freeza said, irritated, “Where are the others?”

“I know not where the previous visitor took the Six Star, but Elder Tsuno’s village holds the Four Star, and the Grand Elder Guru holds the One Star.”

“Hm. Let’s save the Elder for last. Lead us to this Elder Tsuno.”

“Yes.” Moori took the lead, flying forwards at full strength. While a child Namekian may only be able to fly slowly, Moori had been a capable warrior in his youth, and was a stronger fighter than some of the soldiers present.

Freeza checked his scouter, searching the direction ahead of him, and frowned in confusion as one level after another vanished. But beyond that, there was something else there, a level of 24,000 mixed in with the rest… and any other power signature that came near that one would quickly hit zero and vanish or get knocked away, “Vegeta is in Tsuno village!” Freeza growled, furious.

Moori looked nervous. He didn’t know who Vegeta was, but he had more than willing to let Freeza draw his own conclusions. For all he knew, one of the Earthlings was this Vegeta fellow. But if it was some other third party in all of this, also hunting for the Dragon Balls…  
He prayed for his older brother and his village.

* * *

  
Aspara was beginning to truly freak out. Her brother was nowhere to be seen, and checking her scouter was more infuriating than anything else. She would catch a glimpse of his power, fly towards him, but before she could get within sight of his location, he would clamp down on his energy and leave her scouter useless once more.

Worse yet, each time he vanished, he was letting the space between them grow. It seemed he was only getting better at hiding each time she nearly caught him. That, and he seemed to be able to sense her with an even larger radius every time she approached.

“Damn it Vegeta!” She screamed to the winds.

She flew in wide circles, pushing her speed to the limit and watching the scouter carefully. As soon as it beeped, she careened toward its direction. With a smile, she found that Vegeta wasn’t immediately dampening his power level. He was fighting with someone, likely one of the villages Freeza hadn’t gotten around to.  
He was distracted! “Fool.” She said, but it was lost to the wind as she smashed like a rocket towards his energy signature. She collided with a house nearby him like an attack ball, leaving a crater where one of the Namek’s shell-like buildings had stood.

“Aspara!” Vegeta managed, staring at her angrily, a half-dead Namekian child hanging by his shirt in Vegeta’s outstretched fist, “Damn it woman, stop chasing me! You know it’s useless!”

“Because you embarrassed me, Freeza’s ordered that it either be your death, or mine.” She said dangerously, “So I’m afraid I don’t have time to mess around, I’ll kill you, grab this village’s Dragon Ball, and offer both to Freeza as recompense. Then I’ll join Dodoria and Zarbon as one of Freeza’s Personal Staff, and I’ll live in luxury and bloodshed for the rest of my life!” she punched forward, and Vegeta barely had time to react as her fist collided with his chest. He let go of his victim and was sent spiralling, skipping across the water of the nearby lake before leaving a crater in a hill opposite it.

“B-Bitch!” Vegeta swore, pushing himself from the dirt, before peppering the lake with energy blasts, creating a steam screen to hide him from his wrathful sister’s eyes.

“I have a scouter this time!” She hollered, barreling straight through it and firing her own blasts, aiming for his signature on the glass screen rather than relying on her own senses. He couldn’t afford to suppress his power, not while she was right there gunning for him.

Vegeta dashed under her blasts, briefly dipping into the water before rising up behind her, a pre-formed ball of violet light pulsing in his right hand. He threw it at her back, before ducking as she spun around, kicking the ball of energy back his way.

She had him overpowered, plain and simple, forcing him to keep on the defensive as they hopped from one place to another. But, she was sure, she was wearing him down. Her brother’s bloody-minded determination was what had kept him alive all this time despite aggravating Freeza at every opportunity, and she had once admired that. Facing it in an opponent though…

Risking getting in close, she reached out and took hold of his arm, squeezing it as hard as she could and charging a blast with her other hand. She ignored Vegeta’s furious kicking and punching until she successfully fired the beam, piercing through his chest and leaving a deep, smoking, bloody hole. Frowning, she checked her scouter with her free hand, watching his face carefully as his Power Level dropped lower and lower. Soon enough he hit zero. She let out a sigh of relief, before taking a moment to take in his face.

“Sorry big brother.” She said simply. It might even have been genuine. Saiyans had been trained from birth to be the most ruthless warriors they could be. No enemy was worth keeping alive if it was inconvenient. No family members too weak to allow themselves to die were worth crying over. Her mother had beat that into her, when she dared complain when King Vegeta exiled Tarble.

She didn’t even cry when King Vegeta killed her mother over a minor disagreement. Tarble’s mother didn’t receive tears either, when the King had enough of her. When she, Vegeta, Raditz, and Nappa were celebrating their latest successful extermination, and Freeza contacted them with the awful news about the meteor wiping out nearly every other Saiyan in the universe…

Well, they were barely able to function for a few hours, but there wasn’t much mourning for the people they had known. Her and Vegeta’s father, and Vegeta’s mother in particular earned no tears themselves from either of them. She almost envied Raditz, crying over his mother.  
She was a little disappointed with herself that she didn’t feel a deep welling of regret, or shame, or pride, or anything, really, looking at the corpse of her last remaining family member.

She carried his body back to the village, looking around at the destruction for any sign of the Dragon Ball. One of the Namek survivors bravely floated up to her,

“Are… did you come here to save us from him? Has he been the one causing the rumor of villages being wiped out?”

She considered the Namek, before giving a simple nod.

“Thank the Gods.” The Namek muttered, before floating down to the village, “Please, please, follow me. We… we don’t have much, but you’ve saved our lives. We are eternally grateful.”

“I’ve come to this planet for two specific reasons.” She said to the Namek, “Catching this man, and attaining the Dragon Balls.”

The Namekian frowned, taking in her cold expression, before shaking it off, “You saved our lives… you have earned the right to take the Dragon Ball. I’ll bring it to you.”

“Thank you.” She said, before dropping Vegeta’s body on the ground nearby a rock, and sitting down on it herself, pressing a finger to her scouter. “Lord Freeza.”

{Aspara, we’ve been watching through the scouters. Good work.}

“Thank you Lord Freeza.” She said, breathing out a sigh of relief, “The locals have decided that defeating Vegeta while he was distracted killing them is a task worthy of a Dragon Ball.”

{Even better! That’s two more down then.}

The Namekian, who introduced himself as Elder Tsuno, presented her with the Dragon Ball as she heard the news, “Two?”

{Vegeta got another one from a different village… there should be two, in your area.} Freeza said, confused.

“I… I’m only seeing the one, my Lord.”

{...Get looking.}

She grabbed the Ball, before rising into the air, trying to find another Dragon Ball from the sky. But without a life form to carry it, they had no idea where to begin the search. She had chased Vegeta around nearly the whole hemisphere! It could be anywhere.

The others arrived, and Aspara presented the Dragon Ball she had earned to Freeza, before being given back control of her regular squad and given the mission of trying to track down the other Dragon Ball supposedly in her brother’s possession. The Elder Namekian who had come with Freeza took the chance to speak with the Elder of the village she had ‘saved’ from her brother.

Freeza floated toward the body of Vegeta, lifting it into the air with his telekinesis to get a better look at him. To his surprise, under his armor, he could almost make out the rise and fall of his chest- “Aspara!” Freeza growled over the scouter, “Come back here.” He looked to Zarbon and Dodoria, who were wearing identical sadistic smiles, anticipating her punishment. Freeza tossed Vegeta at Zarbon, who winced as the blood got on his pristine armor, “Go. Take him to the ship and stick him in a healing pod. We need to know where that Ball is. If he recovers, he can make himself useful one last time.”  
“As you wish, Lord Freeza.” Zarbon said, before flying off with Vegeta in tow.

He waited for Aspara to return, the woman looking nervous, her three subordinates joining her. “Yes, Lord Freeza?”

Freeza steepled his fingers together, looking at her, “Vegeta was still alive, if barely.”

“I- I am sorry, my Lord, but his power level hit zero, and his wound- and I never looked away from his body for an instant until you came to check-”

“And yet you didn’t bother to see if he still had a pulse?”

“He had a hole in his chest!” she justified, “I apologize… where is he now?”

“Zarbon’s taking him to get healed.”

“Why?!”

“Because he’d be the only one who knows where that other Dragon Ball is.” Freeza explained, floating towards Moori. “I think it’s time we get the last Dragon Ball. It might be a while until we come across it, and I’d like to make sure we have safely captured all the others.”

“I’ll take you to the Grand Elder’s home.” Moori said, flying off. Freeza followed, and wordlessly, his men took to the air to follow him. Aspara flying along with, unsure of when or even if Freeza would make do on his threat.

* * *

  
Vegeta was in incredible pain. He wasn’t actually sure if he had worse before, but all the same, he could handle it. The chest wound was nothing new, not to mention the bruising and burns from everything else she threw at him. Not to mention he just aggravated everything by holding his breath whenever she came close. But for now, playing unconscious would be the best course.  
The fools were even going to heal him! No matter where his sister got this temporary advantage in strength, as soon as he recovered from his own injuries, he was sure he would have her trumped. And then-

_“Sorry big brother.”_

-He’d give her one last chance. She wasn’t some peasant, like Raditz or Kakarot, and she wasn’t a servant like Nappa. She had never been expendable, to him. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t kill her if she kept being obstinate… but he’d give her a last chance. With the way Freeza was speaking to her, she might even be desperate enough to agree to work with him.

If she was especially apologetic, he might even make her immortal as well.

Zarbon hooked him up to the healing pod, before leaving the room. Vegeta opened his eyes briefly, before his exhaustion and the pod's soothing liquids sent him into sleep. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Threat of torture and some gore in this one

"You got the Dragon Ball!" Bulma said, pleased. 

"Heh, and just in time too. Did you manage to get in contact with your Dad back on Earth?" Krillan asked, "It wasn't just those two jerks who wrecked Kami's ship, there's a whole mess of guys like Vegeta... and more than a few of them were stronger than he was. We just managed to avoid them, but I don't want to spend more time here than we need to."

"Yeah, actually!" Bulma said, pleased. "Goku's already on his way here in the ship my Dad fixed up from those Saiyan ball ships. He'll only be a week out."

"A week? We had to fly for a month!" Gohan asked, shocked.

"I guess whatever the Saiyans had was better than what the Nameks had." Bulma commented. "So, we just need to live for a week, how hard can that be? Vegeta's looking for the balls too, right? That means they can't just blow up the planet."

Gohan shook his head, "They had more of those things that the Saiyans had, the scouters. They're just hunting down every person on Namek, until they find people who know where the Dragon Balls are."

"Speaking of-" Krillan increased the range on the Dragon radar. "They've got all but two... and they're heading for the last one that isn't ours." 

"Well... we already were going to have to take them from them, somehow." Gohan said quietly, "If they have all six together, then we can just steal all of them at once, can't we?"

"It'll be too bad for the last village with a Dragon Ball. But if we get our Dragon back, when we resurrect Piccolo, we can wish for them all to come back to life, so, ultimately, it won't be any harm done, right?" Bulma said, in an attempt to comfort the kid. 

"R-right." Krillan agreed, "The most important thing is saving Piccolo. Once that happens, we can undo everything else." 

"Right." Gohan said, feeling better about it, but all the same he reached out his ki to the far away tower. It would have taken him hours of flying, even at full power anyway. There was just as good a chance it would just lure every one of their enemies to him, rather than do anything to help the remaining Namekians. 

* * *

 

"<Elder Moori!>" Nail growled in the Namekian language, "<Betrayal? I wouldn't have expected this of anyone! But _especially_ not you. The Guru's second eldest, allying with monsters to misuse the Dragon Balls?! What are you thinking! >"  

"<It is the only thing we can do. If we give to them the Dragon Balls, they will cease their mindless slaughter of our villages.>"

"<But at what cost?! The Dragon Balls->"

"<Are useless to them.>"

"Ahem." Dodoria growled, "How about you maybe repeat that in Common, so the rest of us don't have to sit around while you babble like infants to each other?"

"These things are best discussed in the sacred tongue." Moori explained, "He is more likely to agree to our demands if I can explain it to him in the language of our ancestors." 

"Well, I know a way to make agree faster-" Dodoria said sadistically, before flash-stepping behind Nail and trying to take hold of both sides of his neck. To the large pink alien's utter surprise however, his fingers could barely make an imprint, let alone strangle him. It was like trying to choke diamond, "What in the hell?"

"I am Namek's mightiest warrior." Nail said calmly. 

"L-Lord Freeza." A purple henchman said nervously, "His power level, it's rising exponentially!" 

"I can see that, fool." Freeza said, watching with interest as energy began to pour from the Namek's skin, like transparent waves of fire, they rolled over him, turning a pure white after they reached out a few inches. 

"He's... he's over 15,000, 19,000, 26,000- AGH!" the alien's scouter exploded, and others hurried to activate their own, watching in horror as it just kept on rising. 

"33,000, 36,000- ARGHH!" another alien's scouter exploded, and then another's. 

"Those things are expensive to produce, you know!" Freeza growled, annoyed, turning on his own spare model, the most stable and expensive of the lot, "Stabilizing at... 42,000. Quite impressive, for a slug."

Dodoria balked at that, looking at the man he had attempted to kill and backing away slowly, feeling vastly overwhelmed. "A power level like that... it'd almost qualify him for the Ginyu Force."

"Hm. I almost want you to become one of my soldiers." 

"Never." Nail said with finality, before turning to glare back at Moori, "<What do you mean useless?.>"

"<Two pure-hearted warriors took the Dragon Ball from my village. These ones have no way to find them.>"

"<And you're just risking that these monsters won't catch them? I can feel the ki of their leader, I don't think it's possible to defeat this one in battle.>"

"<Exactly. We must find another way to make sure our people survive.>" Moori said, "<So please, just give to them the One Star ball... the Elder is dying, and soon enough, the Dragon Balls will be inert.>"

"I will consult with the Grand Elder." Nail said in Common, glaring at Freeza and the rest of his group before walking inside the house, closing the door behind him.

"Elder Moori?" Freeza asked icily, "You know I don't like being kept waiting, correct?"

"Yes, Emperor Freeza. But the Grand Elder is in extremely poor condition. He... he is the life force of the Dragon Balls. He created them, and he sustains them. He is our ruler, and to stress him with your presence all at once might be too much for his heart to bear."

"...He's that connected to the Dragon Balls, is he?" Freeza narrowed his eyes on the building, floating up to look through a window. "...I do sense something off about him. I can believe it. And you're right, he doesn't look to be in good condition at all."

"No, Emperor."

Freeza frowned, "Then we might have a time limit..." Freeza said. "Who knows how long this Grand Elder will last. Tell me, is there any way to sense the Dragon Balls?"

"Not that I'm aware of." Moori said. "It took us about a decade of searching to find them all the last time we put them to use."

"Hmph." 

Nail exited once more, the fury on his face clear as day, but under his arm he held the One-Star Ball. "Here." He said gruffly, tossing it at Freeza, who caught it and smiled like no insult was meant.

"Very good, very good." the Emperor said, "Now, onto other business. You Namekians have had a hard time of it, haven't you? Your planet is just barely a step up from deserted, not to mention all this distrust about the Dragon Balls. I take it I'm not the first scoundrel to try and collect them?"

Nail looked down, remembering, "There have been others seeking the legend. This isn't the first time Namek has been attacked. Slavers, pirates, hell, even tourists. We've been in full support of the rumors of our own extinction."

"Now... as you might have guessed, I have a substantial reputation. My word holds quite a large amount of influence in the universe. Even the Galactic Patrol turn around and run at the mere sight of someone wearing my symbol..." Freeza said, offering his hand to Nail, "You become my soldier, as well as some other Namekians, and I'll divert resources into helping revitalize your dreary world. Or if you aren't the sentimental sort, I can find you Nameks a more suitable planet. Beyond that, I can make whatever system you end up staying in known to be under my protection. No more trespassers. Just the occasional visit from me."

"Why are you so interested in us?" Nail growled. 

"Power, simply. Even old coots like Moori have the strength to take on five of my average soldiers, and even the smallest child has enough ki to fly. And that's not even taking into consideration your magic and other abilities. Your species could be quite the assets." Freeza gestured to the group behind him, "To prove a point, you're stronger than the strongest warrior I brought with me! I've underestimated the talent of you Nameks. Working for me would be in your best interest."

"My answer remains the same." Nail said, "Take the ball and go."

"Rude." Freeza said, "But I am a man of my word. Make sure that the elder doesn't do anything too strenuous until I've successfully achieved my immortality." the Arcosian looked at Dodoria. "Dodoria, you are to remain here while I check back in with Vegeta. Keep an eye on the Elder's condition and keep me informed."

Dodoria shuffled nervously, looking at the Namekian who could squash him easily, "Lord Freeza, don't you think Aspara should stay here? She's tougher than me an' all. If the Namekians try something, she'll be better suited to-"

"She's going to be there when I interrogate Vegeta." Freeza said sadistically, making her flinch, "In fact, she'll be very instrumental in his interrogation. I'm sure that Vegeta has no such emotional attachments to you Dodoria. Why, if I were to torture you, Vegeta might think I was trying to warm up to him."

"I... Uh... no, Lord Freeza."

"Don't worry, I'll have someone watching on the scouters. I'll be sure to avenge you, if he decides for any reason to kill you, of course."

"Emperor Freeza?" Moori began, "I've taken you to every Dragon Ball that I know of. May I take my leave?"

"Feel free."

The Arcosian lifted into the air, six Dragon Balls orbiting his throne as he flew across the sky, his army following closely behind. Dodoria gulped, looking at Nail. "Uh... I suppose I'll be seeing your Grand Elder, now."

"No." 

"But I need to make sure he doesn't croak until Freeza gets his wish, I can't do that if I'm out here!"

"Too bad." Nail said, before slamming the door down in Dodoria's face. For a moment, his rage boiled, the pink alien wanting nothing more than to level the entire mountain... but then the Namek would kill him, and then Freeza would somehow kill him again even more painfully, he was sure. So he contented himself with sitting outside the door, keeping his scouter trained on the energy signature inside. Moori floated towards the door, keeping an eye on Dodoria, before entering in after Nail. 

The pink alien stood up, and pressed his ear against the wall, but to his chagrin, the three voices inside were all speaking in Namekian. He couldn't make heads or tails of it. 

But soon enough, Moori left the building and started flying in the opposite direction Freeza had headed, aiming back for his village. 

* * *

 

"Well, that's it then." Bulma said with a frown, looking down at the reading on the Dragon Radar. Six signals, moving together. Freeza had collected all but the one she was sitting next to. 

"Hmm..." Krillan paced back and forth inside the capsule house, "Half of me wants to keep an eye on the Dragon Balls, and the other half thinks we should just wait for Goku to show up before we try anything."

"It can't hurt to get a look at them." Gohan said, "If we suppress our power levels, they can't find us with their scouters."

"That way we'll be able to at least get a start on planning." Bulma said, "Goku's going to just rush in and get himself killed a second time if we don't have something better planned by the time he gets here." 

"And when we really think about it, there are only five people on the planet we need to avoid." Krillan said, "The really colossal evil ki, Vegeta, that big one that Vegeta fought in the village he was attacking, and the two large ones that both separated from Freeza."

"Right now one of those ones is by Freeza's ship, and Vegeta feels faint..." Gohan said, focusing on his ki sense, "This might be the best time to see their ship, actually."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Krillan said, walking out of the cave. 

Bulma and Gohan followed him out, and Bulma raised an eyebrow, "Why are you suddenly all willing to go over and see them?"

"Because we'll be stealthy. We aren't going to attack them, no matter what. We're being useful, in ways that won't get us fried. I like it."

 

* * *

 Aspara was shaking in her boots as Freeza led her back to the ship, she had failed with Vegeta twice, and Freeza didn't tolerate failure. Zarbon came outside to salute the returning group, and the various aliens made their way back through the ship, returning to their quarters to relax, watch entertainment, or bathe. 

Zarbon led her and Freeza into the healing room, where a the doctor grinned sadistically at her, before motioning to the various instruments of torture lined up neatly on a nearby table top. She looked with dread at them, and then took a chance to glance at Freeza's expression, only to find it mirroring the doctor. "He doesn't care." She said quietly. "Lord Freeza, he really doesn't."

"Who doesn't care about what?"

"Vegeta. About me. He won't break because you hurt me or humiliate me. He was trying to kill me earlier today, and he knows I tried to kill him."

"Oh, I don't know." Freeza said, picking up a scalpel and twirling it in his fingers with amusement, "I've found that family is always quite weird about this sort of stuff. One moment they're killing each other, cursing each other... I know it only too well. Makes me almost fond of you two, how familiar you are..."

She crushed the hope even as it welled up inside her. She wouldn't let him manipulate her, not when she knew he was about to kill her anyway.

"...but I know, that if someone were going to torment Cooler, somehow, or had him humiliated, or were about to take his head... It would not be acceptable. Pride demands that you keep your own blood from being subjected to such things, even if you hate each other. And for all the other savage and small-minded attributes you Saiyans are famous for, one thing  which I know we hold in common is our pride." The Arcosian looked at the healing pod, where her brother floated, in a deep sleep. "When we begin, Vegeta will break. And then he'll tell me where he hid the last Dragon Ball, and then both of you will suffer some more, and then you'll die together. And that'll be the last page in the story of the Saiyans."

Aspara stared at him for a few moments, and the Arcosian's smile just got slowly wider and wider, as if he were a sponge just soaking in her fear. She looked at the alien doctor, the tools, Vegeta in his pod, and made a decision.

She threw out her hand, her fingers passing through the alien's neck like a hot knife through thin air, and then whirled on Freeza, the other hand glowing with gathering Ki as she unleashed an onslaught at full power.

Freeza barely had time to get more than a shocked look on his face as the ki blast erupted in front of him, the wave of destructive energy was easily deflected by his own aura, even protecting the bit of floor he was standing on, but the rest of the ship behind him practically melted away. To her relief, every single one of the former doctor's instruments had been vaporized in the blast as well. They wouldn't be cutting her up, no matter what they did.

"You!" Freeza managed, too outraged to speak. 

She spun around, kicking him in the side of the head. Her foreleg bounced off of his ears without even the slightest bruise on the Arcosian, but his scouter was already a fragile device. The kick, even partially shielded with his aura, was more than enough to obliterate it. "I did everything you wanted! Killed whoever you wanted! Hid away from the other Saiyans like you wanted! And now this betrayal?!" She screamed, charging another blast between her hands, only to be interrupted by his tail suddenly piercing the orb of building energy, detonating it while she still held it in her hands. Her gauntlets were vaporized by the surprising explosion, and she skidded back, shaking her hands to free them from the prickling feeling of her own ki backfiring on her. 

"You filthy monkey." Freeza snarled. "You think I need knives to torture you?! All this defiance is doing is making your suffering extend-" she jerked her finger forward, pointing it into his open mouth, and shot a simple unremarkable ki blast. It flew down his throat and detonated in his chest with an audible bang. She didn't allow herself to think it killed him, however, and she backed off as fast as she could.

Freeza began to gag, retching and screwing his eyes closed. It was only superficial damage, a mere distraction to Freeza where it would be a death blow to almost any other being, but that was all she needed. Flinging herself upwards, not minding as steel and plastic crunched against her head, she burst into the floor above them, surprising the aliens on duty. "ASPARA SQUADRON!" She screamed, "GET OUTSIDE AND STAY THERE!"

Her hands darted in every direction, peppering the other PTO soldiers with energy blasts. Some of the aliens died immediately, while others, better prepared, managed to flare their auras and deflect most of the blasts. 

She didn't bother cleaning up the survivors, only stopping to snatch a scouter from a surviving alien and crushing it in her hand. She had Freeza's only spare on her face right now, and most of the others had been destroyed from observing Vegeta or the Namekian powering up. 

"The comms." She said to herself, running to the bridge, still flinging small energy blasts down the hall and at the walls. She burst through the door, and looked Zarbon in the eye, taking in his panicked and fearful expression. In fact, he was reaching for the communication module right at this moment. 

"A-Aspara, how dare you turn against Lord Freeza!"

"He turned against me!" She roared, dashing forwards and punching him in the chest. The blow was enough to knock him over and have him coughing blood, but before she had any time to attempt a second blow, Zarbon suddenly began writhing under his skin, his muscles and mass bloating up. 

"You know, you damn primates aren't the only race to transform! I prefer not to, considering how unbeautiful it is, but you've pushed us!" Zarbon gurgled out, his voice becoming deeper and more menacing as he grew. "Now then, you wench, if you get on your knees and apologize to me and Lord Freeza I won't-" she kicked him in the groin, as hard as she could, and he simply collapsed, fainting from the pain, cerulean blood splattering his legs from the destruction of his pelvis. 

She frowned at him, before jerking her finger forward and erasing his head with a ki blast. Possessing Saiyan sadism or not, she was in a hurry and Zarbon had already proved himself to be able to do things she couldn't predict. Smiling down at the communication system, she prepared an energy sphere, planning to explode the entire thing, before she stared in horror at the blinking symbol at the top of the screen. 

{Zarbon? Zarbon, this is Burter, what happened?}

She hesitated a few seconds, her mind debating whether to smash the thing, or try and trick the Ginyu Squad into thinking it was a false alarm, when unfortunately, Freeza floated into the room. She had taken too long. 

She moved to end the call, when Freeza vanished from where he was standing, reappearing at her side and grabbing her tail. As an elite, she had trained since birth to move past the Saiyan weakness of their tails. But it was still an instinctual moment of surprise, where her body's desire was to curl up into a ball until the sudden pain stopped, and the only thing that kept it from doing just that was practiced discipline. 

Fighting against most, the moment of regaining control would have been imperceptible, but for Freeza, she might as well have been standing still wearing a sign saying "vulnerable now". 

She gasped as he punched her in the stomach, the impact sending her crashing into the window of the bridge, the transparent steel behind her fracturing but not breaking. 

Freeza glanced at her as she struggled to get up, still recovering from the blow, when he looked down at the monitor to see what she had been trying to hide. 

"Hm, who is this?"

{Ah! Lord Freeza, this is Burter of the Ginyu force. Zarbon was saying something when he said he heard a noise. What's happenin' over there?}

"Ah, well, the Saiyans turned traitor and killed Zarbon."

{A Saiyan, killing Zarbon? You're pulling my leg.}

"No, no, young Aspara has proven herself quite the fighter. In fact, she's nearly wrecked my entire operation here. I'm afraid I need to call you in. Drop everything, and bring a full set of the newest scouters on the market." he ordered, "Get to Namek. I'll be taking care of her right now, but I want insurance. I have a premonition."

{Got it boss. I'll tell Cap'n Ginyu the good news. Burter out.}

The symbol stopped blinking, and Freeza's eyes glided to her, on the way taking in the destruction she wreaked on his favorite ship, and the blue mess she had made his favorite henchman into. 

Freeza was mad now.

He gritted his teeth, and his hands curled into fists. His aura began to spark menacingly as he advanced on the Saiyan woman. "So... any more surprise attacks, Aspara?"

"Fuck... you... Freeza." she grunted out, "you deserve to get stranded on his backwater ball of mud."

"You've made my favorite ship into a write-off you wench!" He growled, his tail snaking out and wrapping around her neck, lifting her up off the ground to struggle as he choked her. 

"Heh..." she gasped out a cruel laugh, before pushing her hand between the tail and her neck, pushing just enough to allow her to breathe again, "I'm sure you can make do with the hand-me-down you said was worthy of my squadron. Too bad it smells like monkey, huh Freeza?"

He headbutted her, simultaneously letting go of her neck with his tail, and sending her smashing through the window and into the grass outside the ship. 

He lazily floated out after her, his eyes glaring down at her body. "I'll gut you, ape. And I'll do it right in front of your stinking-" Freeza winced as he heard the sound of an explosion wracking the other side of his ship, "...brother." he snarled, "your stinking brother!" he screamed, turning away from her and circling to the other side of the ship, before crawling through the smoking hole and searching furiously for any sign of Vegeta. 

Aspara's head was bleeding, and she had terrible-looking bruising on her neck and chest. She smiled slightly as the sight of her squad slowly gathering around her. 

"Captain?" Eenud asked.

"Don't call her that." Turmerc muttered, "She's just a failure now. Do you think Freeza will reward us if we kill her?" he pointed his arm blaster at her face, smirking. 

"Freeza... is going... to kill me." she managed. 

"We gathered." Okra said sarcastically, but he put a hand on her shoulder and helped her sit up a little, she appreciated the gesture.

"...but he's going to kill you too."

"What?" Turmerc asked. 

"...said... there was too much chance... of you being loyal..." she lied.

"But if we kill you-" Turmerc began desperately.

"Freeza already made up his mind... called you... examples..." she breathed heavily, her brain begging to be allowed to go unconscious from the strike Freeza did on her. She prayed with every ounce of faith in anything that they believed her, just long enough to get her out and away from Freeza's vision.

"Shit." Eenud said quietly, before bending down and grabbing her other shoulder. He and Okra lifted her up, and took off for the air. 

"You're just... we can't turn on Freeza!"

"He'll kill us either way!" Eenud reprimanded him, "Now come on, or he'll just kill you too!"

"No way!" Turmerc growled, raising his blaster, "I know something that'll get on his good side!" 

"What, take away Freeza's pleasure of torturing her?" Vegeta asked quietly, spooking the furry alien as he scrambled away from his spot, looking at the Saiyan who had sneaked up on him, still moist from the healing pod. Under each arm, and held in his curled tail, were Dragon Balls. He could barely hold all six of the orbs, and was doing quite well at balancing them. 

"V-Vegeta." Turmerc muttered, "fine! Let's all run, we'll have a better chance of surviving Freeza if we're in a group anyway-" Vegeta sighed, before firing a beam from his eyes through Turmerc's head. The corpse fell with a thud.

"What about you two? What were you going to do with her?"

"We..." Eenud considered his words, "...are loyal to the Captain."

"No." Vegeta growled, rising into the air and flying past them, "You're loyal to **me**! Now come on. Each of you have a free arm, grab a Ball. And if you drop them, it'll be your corpses that hit the ground."

The two minions shared a look, before each taking a Ball, then flying after Vegeta. Aspara and Dragon Balls in tow.

Freeza plowed through the ship, searching wildly for Vegeta, in his anger and panic. "No, no, no! My wishes! I need that last Ball! Vegeta is not allowed to escape!" 

He burst into the cargo hold, before something chilled his heart. The place where he had set down the six Dragon Balls already collected... they were gone. "DAMN THOSE SAIYANS!" Freeza growled. There was no way Vegeta could have healed in such a short time. He was at death's door, unless... Aspara swore that Vegeta wasn't breathing, and then he was. Could she have only pretended to deal a serious wound, making it appear bad, but ultimately superficial? Or was Vegeta simply a tougher bastard than she or anyone else could have guessed, and he played dead?

Either way, he had been played. Vegeta had healed far faster than expected. He was back to full strength, and had Freeza's Dragon Balls.

"If that filthy, savage, idiotic, primitive-brained monkey of a Saiyan gets immortality and I don't... I'm going to make sure he has the most painful eternity I can muster!" Freeza hissed, finding the broken-open window and flying out, intending on recapturing Aspara, only to find that she was gone, her body replaced with that of her minion, two smoking holes burned into his head. Freeza picked up Turmerc's scouter- an old, cheap, model meant for those with less hope than regular grunts. But it was likely the only surviving scouter that didn't belong to Aspara's group or Dodoria.

He sighed as he slipped it over his ear, "Dodoria." he said through the scouter's communication network, "Vegeta and Aspara, and a few traitors, are on the loose. Leave the Elder and come here to track them down. Yours is the only scouter left, besides the ones Vegeta has. Tell the strong Namek  that if he wants to get revenge on some of my soldiers for destroying their villages, he's welcome to come as well and help hunt down these traitors."

{G-Got it, Lord Freeza.}

He pressed another button on the scouter, tracking the combined power level of Vegeta and Aspara's little group. "Got you, Saiyan filth, now all I have to do is-" he blinked as a rock flew at him at high speed. He dodged the projectile easily, before turning his scouter to search the nearby area, "Don't tell me there are more traitors?! And the best thing they can think of is rocks? Who is arrogant and suicidal enough to think they can finish the mighty Freeza by hurling pebbles at him!?"

There was no response, neither from the wind, nor the scouter. He circled the area, keeping an eye open, until he caught sight of an unfamiliar figure ducking behind a boulder to hide from his gaze. In a burst of speed, Freeza was there, staring down at an unfamiliar creature. Short, only four feet tall, bald, and without a nose.

"What the hell are you?"

"Uh..."

"Whatever." Freeza muttered, "I don't have time for this foolishness." He made to crush the his head, when in the moment he had diverted all his focus towards the being in front of him, another rock came flying. In the midst of preparing to attack, he didn't react in time, and the rock hit the scouter. 

The dwarf took the opportunity to fling himself to the side and take off flying at full speed. Freeza whirled around to attack him, but more rocks came flying. Following their path, moving so fast he vanished to the sight of his hidden opponent, he easily found the rock-thrower. A mere child, dressed in a similar manner to the Nameks. The boy's hair was black, as were his eyes, Freeza could have sworn he was Saiyan, but he didn't have the tail, or the near-constant glare most Saiyans held when they weren't fighting. 

It didn't matter. He threw rocks at him, that meant the boy's life was forfeit. He swiped out to grab him, when the boy suddenly burst into light. 

Blinded, the Arcosian tyrant backed off instinctually, swearing under his breath as he tried to blink away the spots in his vision. His tail whipped around, and he flung energy blasts in a circle around him, but he didn't hit either of the mystery beings. Enraged, he flew straight up into the air, looking around furiously for them, his eyes watching the ground, the lakes, even the ships for any sign of them. "DAMN IT! COME OUT! I'll BLOW IT ALL UP!" Freeza threatened, raising a finger, glowing red with malicious energy. But there were no takers, and even worse, if he detonated the whole area, both spaceships would be caught in the destruction. His own was practically a wreck already, his three surviving soldiers crawling out of the wreckage, not one wearing a scouter, and all three of them wounded. 

He pressed the button on his own scouter, the cheapest he had ever touched with his own hands, but the blow from the rock had knocked something loose inside it, and not one of the survivors had the background to fix it. It was useless to him. 

"DAMN IT!" Freeza roared. Everything had gone wrong!

* * *

 Gohan and Krillan breathed a deep sigh of relief, but remained utterly silent all the same. They had flown straight up, as high as they could, and kept their backs to the sun, so that even if the alien did look up- and it was rare that anyone actually did -all they would see was one of Namek's three suns.

They waited until Freeza went back down to the ships before daring to fly back to their base, Krillan looking over at Gohan and glaring. 

"Gohan... that was reckless."

"They need those scouters." Gohan said, unrepetant, "Now, that guy with the horns doesn't have any. He can't find us."

"But Vegeta's group still can." Krilllan said, "...should we follow them?"

"And you were calling me reckless?" the boy asked, smiling a little, "Why? I mean, they're still in the same position as the other guy was, they can't summon Shenlong without our Ball, and we can tell where they are because of the Dragon Balls they're carrying."

"It's just..." Krillan sighed, "you're going to think I'm silly."

"What?"

"I can't stand seeing a lady in trouble."

"She's one of Freeza's people! You felt what happened to the villages they visited." Gohan protested, "We're not helping her."

"Like I said. Silly."

"I wonder why those guys are going with Vegeta though. The woman was the one who beat up Vegeta in the first place, if I read their ki right."

"...Maybe he wants revenge?" Krillan asked.

Gohan and Krillan flew in silence for a few moments, before sensing them heading towards one of the two surviving Namekian villages. The one that Vegeta didn't attack, this time. 

"The Nameks are going to get hurt." Gohan said quietly. 

"We'll wish them back when all is said and done." Krillan said. "For now, let's give them a wide berth. We'll wait for Goku to show up, and then we'll go in and snatch away the Dragon Balls from under Vegeta's nose."

* * *

 

 Elder Moori groaned in irritation and worry as he sensed Vegeta's approach, Freeza soldiers and wounded in tow. He had just reached the village only a short while ago, returning from the Lord Guru's tower. "Hey! Nameks!" Vegeta roared, the moment he touched down. "Guess what I've got!"

"Th-The Dragon Balls!" Moori said reverently, joining with the warriors to stand in front of the village, putting a wall of fighters between the Freeza soldiers and the youngest of them.

"Yep." Vegeta said, putting them in a pile. "We've only got six for now, still looking for the last one." he looked to Eenud and Okra, gesturing to the ground. "Don't you two get any ideas of flying off with those. Put em' where I can see them."

"Got it, Capta-" Eenud stopped himself. "Uh, what did you want us to call you?"

"Lord Vegeta will do for now." the Saiyan said in a cocky tone, he turned back to the Namekians, gesturing to his sister. "So, here's how this will play out, slugs. This one needs medical attention, which you're going to provide. She dies, all of you die." 

"...Easy enough." Moori muttered. He looked behind him, and put a gentle hand on a child's shoulder. Two warriors flanked him, and they cautiously walked over to Aspara.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"A rare few of our kind have the ability to heal any wound with a mere touch. In this village, Dende is the most experienced with it."

"Fine." Vegeta said. 

Dende reached out and put his hand on Aspara's bleeding forehead, closing his eyes briefly. His hand glowed yellow, and Aspara did as well. When Dende withdrew his hand, her bruises had vanished, "She'll just need to sleep it off a bit, but she should be fine." Dende reported, he was scared out of his wits, but healing always made him feel confident. 

Vegeta's eyes lit up as he began to actually consider the talent, "That's a very convenient ability." he commented, "Thank you for healing her. Tell me, how many times can you do that?"

"I don't understand."

"Heal someone, slug! How many times can you heal the same person?"

"Um... as many times as I want?"

"Hehehe. Fine." he looked at Eenud and Okra, "no matter what we end up doing to this village, the kid's coming with me. I have an experiment I want to try out." 

Okra gave a nod, snatching Dende from the ground and holding him under his arm, not fazed in the slightest by his struggles, "How dare you! We healed your comrade and you simply take a child!?" Moori growled, the warriors around him powering up and getting into various martial art stances. 

"You'll get him back. Besides, you know you can't beat me. I know you slugs can feel my ki, like I can feel yours. I'm afraid you don't have a choice in the matter. And it's also for that reason that you'll tell me where the last Dragon Ball is."

"I will do no such thing."

"You were oh-so-willing to frame me as the one who took it for Freeza." Vegeta snarled, "Do you know what he would have done to me to get that information? What he was going to do to my sister? You Nameks owe me. Not just any group, you, specifically." Vegeta pointed at Moori, "Now, where is it?"

Moori looked defiant for another few moments, before sighing in defeat, his entire body sagging as he gave up. "I truly do not know."

"Bull! Where are you hiding it!?"

"I did not lie to Freeza." Moori stated, "we gave it to someone, and sent him on his way. I know not where he's taken it."

"There's no one else on the planet besides Freeza's goons, my goons, and you Nameks! Who took it!?"

"They were aliens, like yourself. Not wearing Freeza's armor or scouters."

"...Describe them."

Moori shook his head, "Not if you will simply hunt them down."

"Well then. This village seems to no longer serve a purpose." Vegeta said harshly. 

"Please! Just leave us be." Moori pleaded.

"Not until I get descriptions!" 

The Nameks shifted as a crowd, looking into each other's faces, before they as one began to radiate defiance. Vegeta took in the mood of the situation, and gave up on threatening them, "All a bunch of insane stubborn fools." He muttered. He walked over to his sister's sleeping body and picked her up, before flinging her bodily at the warrior Namekians. "Get her a bed, and have food ready. For all of us. And make sure it's a lot. This village will be our base for now." he looked at Okra, "Drop the kid."

The horned brute did so, and Dende sped back towards the group of older Namekians, grabbing hold of one of the other elders and holding on tight as he began to cry. 

"We... don't eat food like you do." a Namek in the crowd brought up, "we have no food prepared."

"Well that's good, because it'll be us who would be eating it anyway. We're not too picky, just find something huge, kill it, and bring it back here to roast." Vegeta commanded, "Get to it!" 

With some bitter muttering, and getting approval from Elder Moori, two of the warriors flew off to try and meet Vegeta's demands. 

Vegeta sat himself down in the center of the group of Dragon Balls, ordering Okra and Eenud to pull up some trees for firewood, complaining loudly that he hadn't eaten anything in a long time. 

The Namekians decided to be patient. After all, it was only a matter of time until Nail arrived, and dispatched all the invaders together. Until then, they had to focus on not letting anyone get killed. 

* * *

 Dodoria's communication from Freeza went quiet, and the alien breathed a sigh of relief that he would finally be able to leave. He got up to bang on the door, to pass on Freeza's message, when Nail stepped out. Dodoria hastily backed up a few steps, but began to feel his heart beating faster as Nail continued walking towards him. 

"Uh, now, I know we got off on the wrong foot..." Dodoria offered, "Lord Freeza wanted me to give you a message, and then I'll be off! Away, likely never see you again."

"Did you know that Namekians have very sharp hearing?" Nail said quietly, "I heard your message. You invaders can't sense the ki of others, correct? You need tools like those scouters to find anyone."

Dodoria's hand shot up to hit the button on the scouter, to try and report this treachery to Freeza, but he wasn't fast enough. A short beam of light from Nail's eyes overloaded and exploded the little machine, making Dodoria wince. 

"And now you can't call for help." Nail said quietly. 

"I... please don't kill me." Dodoria said simply, before dropping to the ground, "I never wanted to serve Freeza, honest! I'll help you against him in any way I can, I just don't want to die."

"Your kind disgusts me. Preying on those weaker than yourselves with arrogance and pride, and then snivelling under and flattering those stronger." Nail said, "You honestly just aren't worth dirtying my hand with your blood." 

"Yeah, I know." Dodoria said, continuing to bow, as his life depended on it, "Thanks! I just need to-" 

"You're not going back to your master." Nail said harshly, the Namekian pointed at the distance, "I'm going out to one of the villages. Along the way there are two of the space ships that came down after your own. The single-room ones."

"Attack balls." Dodoria said to himself, grinning, "I can get off this world! Get away from Freeza!" 

"Good. Come on." Nail ordered, flying off towards the village. But even with his great speed, it would be a few hours before he reached Moori's village. 

 


	3. Chapter 3

 Aspara opened her eyes, and took in the white-grey ceiling with a note of confusion. The day's events hit her like a truck, and she reached for her forehead, shocked to feel that there wasn't a bloody bruise, but rather just her skin. She didn't even have a scar there. As she got up, she quickly patted herself down, noticing her other wounds were gone as well. With a little light stretching, she realized that she hadn't been in a healing pod either. Her clothes were dry, she was dry, and while there was a whiff of the scent of healing pod liquid in the air nearby, it should have been a lot stronger. She also took in the scent of meat cooking somewhere outside, a smell that intensified when the door slowly opened. 

She tensed as a small Namekian walked into the dwelling. He froze at the sight of her, before letting out a breath of relief, "I'm glad you're awake." he said. She reached for her scouter, only to realize it had been turned off, not displaying anything on the screen. She supposed it was best that way, if Freeza figured out where they were from just listening in to her frequency, it would be bad. 

"Where am I? Did... Did my men bring me here?"

"Your brother." the Namek answered, his tone showing his distaste for Vegeta, "He ordered me to heal you, and tell him about the people who took our Dragon Ball."

"You healed me?"

"Yes. My name is Dende." he worked his fingers, and a beam of light shot from them, before creating a towel. He carried it over to a tub, dipping it inside and then handing it to her, "I've washed off as much of the blood as I could reach without taking off your armor."

"Uh, thanks." She said, taking the towel and looking at it, feeling awkward, "Look, Namekian, do you have any idea why I'm still alive. My brother should want me dead. If my crew is alive-"

"There are two men working for him." Dende said helpfully. 

"Two? A frog-faced purple guy, and a red guy with horns?" Dende nodded, "Figures Turmerc would ditch me, if the others didn't kill him. So, Vegeta's free, he's healed, he had me at his mercy, but I'm still alive, and my men are working for him." she sighed, "None of this makes any sense." curling her fingers into a fist, she began to smile evilly, "At least I got a substantial zenkai out of that. Not everyone can say they fought Freeza and lived. I had Vegeta outclassed before, he should know that by letting me recover he would just be sealing his fate." she wiped her face with the towel before tossing it back to Dende. 

"There's um, food outside." Dende said helpfully. 

"Thanks." she said again, actually meaning it this time. As she walked outside, she took immediate notice of Vegeta, sitting by a fire chewing on a huge chunk of some kind of amphibian's meat. Walking over, she sat on the ground next to him, ripping a chunk of the meat from the roasting body held suspended over the fire. She stuffed it in her face, quickly stomaching it and reaching for the next chunk. 

The two Saiyans messily gobbled up their meal in relative silence, her two subordinates, or perhaps former subordinates, knew her well enough to not bother trying to speak while she was eating. It was only when the skeleton of the beast had been licked clean that Aspara looked to Okra and Eenud, "Thank you." she said, earnestly.

"Don't give us too much credit Captain." Eenud said, gesturing to her brother, "We were still making up our minds whether to take you with us or not if we ran, when Vegeta showed up and made the decision for us."

"That's right." Vegeta said, "You owe me, sister. Be grateful."

She looked over to him, "Why did you save me, Vegeta? Yesterday I tried to kill you for not joining Freeza, and you tried to kill me right back. Why trust me now?"

"Well, Freeza's out of the equation as someone to work for, now." Okra said helpfully. 

"Call it a second chance." Vegeta said with a cocky smile, "Besides, it'd be an insult to my own Noble bloodline to have you die like a dog in Freeza's grip."

"Fair enough." Aspara said uneasily, "I assume you're planning on stealing the Dragon Balls from Freeza?"

"Already done." Vegeta said proudly, gesturing to the orbs sitting not far from their camp. 

"Then why haven't you gathered yours and made your wish?"

Vegeta's face darkened, "Freeza apparently misunderstood the Namekians. There's someone else on Namek after the Dragon Balls, and they're the ones that have the last one."

"The two power levels that Zarbon sensed." she said, "He sent two scouts, but the power levels raised to about 1,500, killed the scouts, and then went back to practically nothing. Because it was only 1,500 Freeza decided we had bigger problems, namely you're incoming arrival."

"Damn it! Do you remember where-" she shook her head, "of course you don't." Vegeta seethed, "We'll have to fan out."

"And we'll have to be fast too." Aspara said, "Freeza's patience won't last forever. There's a good chance he'll think he lost his chance at immortality and just take my ship and destroy the planet... and if he doesn't, the Ginyu Force will be arriving in five days."

"No!"

"Freeza spoke with Burter briefly before he knocked me out." Aspara said, "We don't have much hope." 

"Is... is that true?" Dende asked, spooking the four sitting around the fire, "That Freeza might destroy Namek?"

 "You Namekians are too damn quiet!" Okra growled.

"It is. I've seen him do it before. It's not exactly impressive." Aspara answered Dende, "Any of the Namekian adults could probably muster the strength to destroy a planet if they gave it their all and hit it in the right spot." 

The small Namekian shivered in place, "Do you... do you think he will?"

Vegeta narrowed his eyes at Dende, before standing up and grabbing the boy by his shirt, "You're worried about that, are you? Then tell us where the last Dragon Ball is!"

"We thought that if Freeza thought he had a chance of getting his wish, he would leave us alone." Elder Moori said, putting a hand on Vegeta's arm, "Please, release the boy."

"Well, you should know better now." Aspara said, "We can beat the answers out of you, you know. There aren't many Namekians left. Would you really be willing to face extinction rather than tell us who you gave your ball too?"

"We'd rather face extinction than unleash an immortal threat out onto the rest of the universe." Moori said defiantly.

Vegeta scowled at the elderly Namek, dropping Dende to advance on him instead, "What, you think you're helping the people out there by being obstinate?!" he gestured wildly at the sky.

"If we prevent you or Freeza from gaining immortality-"

"Shut it." Vegeta snarled, "You really don't know who Freeza is, do you? You can sense his power, like I can, so you know more than any scouter user how powerful he is... do you think there's anyone who could possibly defeat him without immortality?!"

"Surely there must-"

"NO! There isn't!" Vegeta said, "The only being in the universe greater than Freeza is the God of Destruction, and that damn purple menace simply can't be bothered. The only beings weaker than Freeza to have the potential to beat him are his own blood relatives, and each of them would be just as bad as he is."

Moori looked to the grass, he had assumed, as long as Freeza wasn't immortal, that some warrior would come across him and kill him someday. He had no idea of the power scaling of the universe after all, perhaps monstrous fighters like Freeza were common in some places, as horrifying to consider as it was. 

Aspara stood up as well, gesturing to her brother and herself, "We're Saiyans. We're weaker than Freeza, obviously, but he fears our potential. Freeza wiped out our race like he's going to wipe out yours. Our home planet is gone, and us two are the only ones left."

Vegeta got a slightly annoyed expression, "Except for Raditz' traitor of a brother and his half-breed son, but they'll be no help."

"We're brutal, and definitely not pure of heart, but Freeza has proved beyond a doubt that he'll continue victimizing entire galaxies. We are most certainly the lesser of two evils, and the best hope anyone has of killing Freeza."

Vegeta then flinched, looking to the sky. "The hell?" Aspara followed his gaze, seeing nothing on the horizon.

"Should I use the scouter?" she asked. 

"No, it's not worth it yet, I can sense him well enough. It's a Namekian, the powerful one."

Aspara remembered Nail, and rose up into the air. "He was stronger than me before, but now that I've recovered from the wounds Freeza dealt me, I'm sure that I can take him."

Vegeta smirked at her, "What makes you think I'll give you the chance? I recovered from the damage you gave me, and let me tell you, I feel substantially stronger too. In fact, I'd say I'm the better one again."

"Keep dreaming older brother." she said with a grin. Nail was in sight now, aiming for them straight on. 

Nail took in the state of the village, as well as the four aliens. "So you really have turned against Freeza."

"He didn't give us much choice." Aspara said quietly, to Vegeta's annoyance. 

"Don't tell me you'd be willing to go back if he forgave you!" the prince hissed.

"He'd never forgive me. So it's a moot point."

"But you would, wouldn't you!?"

"Working for him _is_ the safest option."

"You disgust me. I was wrong, obviously a tail isn't necessary to the pride of a Saiyan, you still have yours, but you're a coward at heart." 

"Like I said, we don't have a choice any longer. I'm all for killing him, as unlikely as it might be." she bristled with anger, but it wasn't the right time to fight with him. And she did owe him, like it or not.

Nail looked at the six Dragon Balls, then considered the two Saiyans. "What were you going to wish for?"

"Immortality for the both of us." Vegeta answered without a thought. "It's the only way for us to wear Freeza down."

Nail raised an eyebrow, "I'll have you know, becoming stronger is far more difficult if one is immortal."

"Wh-What?!" Vegeta cried, outraged, "You know nothing of Saiyans, coming back from the brink of death brings out our true strength! If we were immortal, we could spar without reservation until we became invincible! Until I become the Legendary Super Saiyan!"

"You can't reach the brink of death if you're immortal. Your body simply returns to how it was in your prime, no matter what happens. It's quite difficult to build any strength when your immortality washes away any change to your muscles."

"That... that can't be." Vegeta had been pinning all his hopes on immortality. It had seemed the perfect 

Aspara sighed, "Immortality is out, then. Or at least, it's out until we're satisfied with our level of strength. But why tell us?" she asked the Namekian. 

"If you're serious about destroying Freeza, then we're on the same side. I want him off my planet, but my conscience doesn't rest easy knowing that even if he leaves he'll just keep hurting people like he did here."

Vegeta was about to insult him for being soft, when Aspara put a hand on his shoulder, "Where is the last Dragon Ball?"

"I could find it easily enough." Nail said, crossing his arms. "But what would you wish for to help you?"

"...we could banish Freeza away somewhere. Perhaps teleport him next to a black hole?" Eenud offered. 

"I want to put down the bastard with my bare hands!" Vegeta said, "There's no honor in simply wishing him away!"

"There's a sizable chance it wouldn't work anyway."  Nail said tiredly, "The Dragon God isn't omnipotent. It can do things nothing else in the universe can do, but it can't kill something stronger than itself, and it follows the rules of the Heavens."

"What does that mean?"

"I couldn't even use the Dragon Balls to wish someone as weak as him dead." Nail said, gesturing to Eenud, "and if your will is strong enough, you can resist a wish affecting you. If your ki was stronger than the Dragon God's, and actively pushing against it, I wouldn't even give fifty-fifty odds. Considering how strong Freeza is... He'd have to be completely off guard and utterly focused on something else to even get a hope of catching him in it."

"Damn." Aspara commented, "Could we make it conditional immortality? Make it so that we are only revived if we die, still allowing us to get hurt? We could become stronger, while still being immortal."

Nail frowned, "I don't think someone's ever wished for that before. It might work. But it would take a separate wish for each of you. That would only leave us with one more."

"We get three wishes?" Vegeta asked, surprised. 

"Then, afterwards, eternal youth." She said, pleased, "That wouldn't prevent us from getting stronger, would it?"

"...No, it wouldn't." Nail said. "But I don't see how it would help you defeat Freeza now."

"It was never about defeating Freeza now." Vegeta said, "It was about getting the wish, so that we could defeat him in the future."

"Then how will any of this save Namek?!" Nail growled, "Because I won't find the last ball for you if it doesn't."

"Do the Dragon Balls disappear forever after they grant your wishes?"

"No, only for a year."

"Which on Namek is..." she tried to remember from her file, but it had seemed irrelevant.

"One hundred thirty standard days, Captain." Eenud said helpfully. 

Aspara grinned evilly, "Well how about this, Warrior Namek? You find the ball, we grant our three wishes, and then we leave the planet to train. You explain to Freeza that he'll have to return in one hundred thirty days, and he'll get a second chance to use the Balls. During that year, we just have to surpass him. We'll return, and then we'll defeat him for you."

"There's no way the Elder will survive another year." Nail said sadly, "he dies, the Dragon Balls die with him."

"Can't any of your other people recreate the Dragon Balls?" Vegeta asked. 

"But why would we?! We'd be risking Freeza getting his wish, and that's not worth all our lives, we know the evil he'd wreak without limits."

"Just trust us to finish him before he gets that chance, then."

"... I'll think it over." Nail turned to leave, but hesitated, looking down at the village, "Oh, and one last thing. If I come back and find that any of you four killed another Namekian, all deals are off. Period."

Vegeta gritted his teeth, "Deal."

The two saiyans watched Nail fly off, considering the possibilities of the Dragon Balls. 

"That was an okay idea. I didn't think of it, at least." Vegeta admitted to her.

"I'll get you back about that Saiyan pride comment." she said simply, returning back to the fire. 

Vegeta laughed, joining her.

* * *

 Freeza could barely contain his seething rage. He had spent an hour dashing across the planet's surface as fast as he could, only to come up with nothing. No Saiyans, no Dragon Balls. And his enemies had scouters, so all that flying was meaningless anyway. They knew exactly where he was, and could simply hide whenever he might come near. It was only a matter of time until Vegeta made his wish, and made this whole dreadful trip worth nothing.

For now, he was spending his time in Aspara's ship, alone, going over records and using the ship's sensors for all they were worth, trying to find something, anything, he could turn to his advantage. Including communications from the two minions Aspara left behind. Assuming didn't get themselves killed in the extermination process of Belpep, they should be coming along soon, and they would have scouters, if Dodoria didn't come back with his own scouter by then. 

Aspara's ship was searching the interstellar space around Namek for any sign of communications from incoming Attack Balls, but he wasn't expecting the computer to receive one from an Attack Ball taking off. Frowning, he opened the message, only to see in the screen Dodoria's smug face. Scouterless, of all things. "Dodoria, why are you leaving Namek?"

"Lord Freeza, there's something I need to explain to you." Dodoria said seriously, "I've always hated you."

Freeza twitched.

"I've always hated your attitude, your holier-than-thou talk, your damn hypocrisy! Going on an' on about how this race was nothing but brutes, or that you were too good for the dirtywork, too civilized, but I've seen you yucking it up with the worst of us while you roast planets from orbit without giving the 'savages' a chance to fight back. I'm a warrior, I'm a killer, I've done things that I'm going to hell for." Dodoria nodded, "And I'm at peace with that. But want to know the last straw Freeza? You left me with that Namek, fully expecting him to kill me the moment you left. When you called me, it was because there were no other scouters you could find, right? Nail was listening in, and blasted it off my face the moment you hung up."

"Dodoria." Freeza said, his voice cold and hard as ice, "You are going to shut up. And come down here. Or I will make life for you so full of pain that-"

"Nah. I'm not doing that. You're stuck down there, unless you chase me right now. And I've already got a head start. I gotta run now, you see? Or you'll kill me. You can either follow me, or you can stay and hope for the Dragon Balls. But you can't do both, and my chances get better with every passing moment." the pink alien smiled, baring his teeth, eyes full of twisted glee.

"I'll find you, Dodoria. When this is all over, I'll have all eternity to find you if I need it!" Freeza shouted.

"Nail offered me, the worst of the worst, mercy. And by the gods, I'm taking it, and I'll make the best of it for as long as I can." Dodoria said simply. "Hopefully you won't be so lucky." Dodoria then raised his fist, and brought it down on the communication module. There was a bang, and then the screen only read static. 

Freeza clenched his hands tight, staring at the static, and rushed outside. He looked up into the sky, already barely remembering which direction Dodoria's Attack Ball was heading. Screaming, he unleashed one wave of energy after another into the sky, sending blasts out in every direction. He continued for two minutes, until he was breathing a little harder, before he let up. "...I'll make you pay for this betrayal." he promised the sky, before returning to the ship. He quickly wrote up a report, declaring Dodoria a traitor on the run, and sent it out to every edge of the galaxy. He then took a seat to wait for signs of the other Attack Balls. 

* * *

 Nail took nearly three days to locate the two earthlings, who had been suppressing their power levels. Seeing that he was a Namekian, they decided to reveal themselves when he came close enough.

"Mister Piccolo?!" Gohan asked, surprised.

"My name is Nail." he considered the two of them, both were suppressing their power levels out of habit, but he could feel that they were more powerful than he thought, "...I want to know your plan."

"Our plan for what?" Krillan asked, suspicious. 

"The Dragon Balls!"

"Why do you need to know it?"

Gohan looked between Nail and Krillan, "I'm sorry, it's just... how did you find us?"

"I can sense your energy, though I should warn you that the short Saiyan can too, even without scouters. If you need to keep hiding from them, be careful in that regard."

"Vegeta can sense energy? Wait, if we need to keep hiding? Why would we ever stop hiding, if we can?" Krillan asked.

"I'd call myself a neutral party, but that's wrong. The truth is, I want Freeza off my planet by any means necessary. So does Vegeta, and so do you. He has six Dragon Balls, and you have the seventh."

Gohan considered it, "We were planning on using the Dragon Balls to revive a bunch of people who were killed by Vegeta. It's because of him that we're here. Because of what he did."

"Is that so." Nail sighed, "I don't like it, but I'm going to have to give them your Dragon Ball."

"What?! Why?"

"Because as simple-minded as it is, them wishing for immortality has a better chance of saving Namek than your wish does."

"One of the people we were going to resurrect is a Namekian like you!" Gohan said, "And if we do that, then we'll get the Dragon Balls back on our world back! Look, if you let us use your Dragon Balls to bring back the people killed by Vegeta, then we promise to use ours to bring back all those who got killed on Namek."

Krillan smiled, "We were planning on doing it anyway."

"That's impossible." Nail said, "The Dragon Balls can only bring one person back to life at once. You'd be bringing back at most three people every year!" 

"What? No, we used them to wish back multiple people at the same time before." Krillan said. 

"...I guess the ones on Earth have different rules."

"If you think that we can only wish three people back, does that mean your Dragon gives out three wishes?" Gohan asked, impressed.

"Hmph." Nail smiled, "Fine. It's a deal. I'll convince Vegeta's gang to let you wish that Namekian of yours back. If Freeza kills us all and then leaves, I suppose you can just bring us back to life later, can't you?"

"That's the spirit." Krillan said.

"Go get the Dragon Ball, and then follow me. We're making those wishes."

"I'll go get it." Gohan offered, flying towards the mountain where Bulma and the ball were hidden.

Nail and Krillan waited for the kid to come back, still looking slightly guilty about his too-short explanation of "I'll explain later!" to Bulma, before the three of them started flying for Moori's village. 

* * *

 Two Attack Balls collided with the planet, leaving smoking craters. As the doors opened, a humanoid with green skin and yellow hair stepped out and looked at the suns visible in the sky. Out of the second pod an insectoid monster walked out, activating his scouter. "Lord Freeza. This is Tarot of the Aspara Squad." the insectoid said, "We'd like to apologize for our lateness. The remaining Belpep's were stronger than we had first thought."

{Never mind all that.} Freeza replied, {Come to the ship immediately. Things have not gone well at all. I'm afraid all the scouters I brought with have been destroyed, and I have direct need of one of yours.}

Mering, the other, looked at the mountain nearby, before lining up his fingers with it and smiling, "I hate traveling by Attack Ball. No room to practice, like this, I'll get rusty." he fired a ki bullet from his finger, watching in satisfaction as a circle of the rock spire exploded away. He watched the rock spire collapse, noting with satisfaction that an alien building fell with it. He checked his scouter, and nodded when he saw the only number inside very slowly shrinking. 

"You done?" Tarot said quietly.

"Yes, yes. Lead the way." The two lifted into the air and blasted away.

* * *

Nail nearly reached the village when he flinched noticeably, staring at the distance in horror, "Th-The Grand Elder!" he shouted.

"What's wrong?"

"The Grand Elder is dying!" He shouted back, his aura igniting as he dove for the village, "Dende!"

The small Namekian barely had any warning as he was scooped off the ground, carried in the arms of the Namekian as he flew at high speed towards the Guru's tower.

"Hey!" Vegeta shouted, standing up at the sound of Nail flying away, "What gives?!"

Gohan and Krillan suddenly felt extremely vulnerable, holding the Dragon Ball, with Vegeta standing right in front of them, now that Nail was flying off. The Saiyan had been haunting both their dreams during the voyage to Namek, "Come on Gohan, let's follow him."

Aspara and her two henchmen stood to attention as well, his sister watching Vegeta with amusement as the Prince registered just who exactly he was looking at, "You're Kakarot's brat!" Vegeta screamed, his aura flared up, and he was suddenly in front of Gohan. His hand darted out and ripped the Dragon Ball from the child's hands before using his other hand to punch him in the gut. Gohan was sent flying at the ground, Krillan only barely able to catch him before he collided with the ground. "Hahaha! Well, what do you know! The Namek pulled through! I guess he saw reason." Vegeta tossed the Dragon Ball towards Aspara, who caught it easily before throwing it in the pile with the rest. "And now, what to do with you two?"

"We... we agreed with Nail to give you the Dragon Balls, as long as we got one of the wishes!" Krillan said, mustering all the bravery he could. 

"Why would we let you have one of the wishes?" Vegeta asked, advancing on them. Krillan instinctually backed away, causing the Saiyan to begin laughing, "You're even more pathetic than you were on Earth! Where's the earthling begging Kakarot to be allowed to finish me? Or are you only brave when your opponent is already beaten?"

Krillan gritted his teeth, and was about to reply when Gohan opened his eyes and struggled from Krillan's grip, "We need to wish Mister Piccolo back to life."

"Why would I care?"

"If Mister Piccolo came back, then Earth's Dragon Balls will come back. Our first wish is going to be to bring back everyone you and your friend killed, as well as everyone who died on Namek." Krillan explained. "But after that... as much as it pains me to say this, if you come to Earth in two years, we'll let you wish for whatever you want."

Vegeta's eyes widened, considering it. "...Follow me." he floated down to Aspara and her henchmen, and Gohan and Krillan had little choice except to follow. 

Aspara eyes Gohan with interest, walking up to him, "Well what do you know." she said quietly, "You do look a bit like Raditz."

Gohan didn't really know what to say to that, but Krillan was all too willing to cover for him, "Hey there, uh, I'm glad to see you're alright. I, that is to say, we were worried when we saw Vegeta carry you off. I wanted to rescue you, but Gohan reminded me that if they killed you, you'd come back with everyone else, when we, uh, wished everyone back." Krillan stumbled, blushing in front of the beautiful woman. 

Vegeta looked at Krillan's reddening face, and his sister, who seemed more amused than anything else. "She's my sister, you shrimp!" Vegeta warned, "Make vulgar eyes at someone else!"

"Oh, he's harmless Vegeta." she said, grinning a little, "Besides, considering _someone_ killed Nappa, it's not like my prospects are very wide within our own species, and Kakarot's little mutt proves that humans are compatible."

Vegeta looked at Krillan again, then shuddered. 

Gohan frowned, "My Dad is the only other Saiyan."

"And he beat you, didn't he, Vegeta?" she said, enjoying watching her brother squirm, "I'll have to see if I can't make some kind of _~arrangement~_ with him."

"He's a Low-Class wretch! A tailless, prideless, soft, idiotic Low-Class wretch at that!" Vegeta protested.

"And he's married." Gohan said, narrowing his eyes at her, "I was going to say that you'll probably have to marry a human. Since the only other Saiyans are your brother and me."

"You two are such prudes." She said, laughing, "Fine, we can discuss Kakarot later. Now, I think we should get immortality as quickly as possible."

"You are going to give us our wish too, right?" Gohan asked. 

"We might as well." Vegeta admitted. "If we decide we need something in the future, it'd be best if the Dragon Balls were available to us."

"Good."

The group stood around the balls, and Vegeta waited, watching them expectantly, "It... occurs to me that I don't know how to make the Dragon come out." Vegeta said, after a time. 

"O-oh! Oh, yeah. Don't worry." Krillan said, before winking at Aspara, feeling more confident now that he had a woman pay attention to him for a bit, "Watch closely, because this is the best part! Eternal Dragon, rise up and grant our wish!" he threw his arms up, and then watched the sky, waiting for the Dragon to come.

"Uh... Shenlong?" Gohan asked the Balls, "Appear? Come out Dragon? Dragon God?"

The two full-blooded Saiyans, not to mention their minions, were becoming less amused as time went on, "What's the holdup?!" Vegeta growled. 

"It's uh, not working." Krillan said, gesturing at the Dragon Balls.

"Are you saying it right?" Aspara asked.

"That's how we said it on Earth." Krillan said. 

"Are Namekian Dragon Balls different?" Okra asked the two Earthlings.

"Oh yeah." Krillan said, "I mean, just look at the size of them. A Dragon Ball on earth fit nicely in one hand, but these things are so unwieldy."

Vegeta looked out into the crowd of Namekians that were keeping their distance, "Hey! One of you, get over her and explain how these work!"

Elder Moori sighed, walking forwards and looking to Gohan and Krillan, "It's nice to see you again. Even if it's not under the best circumstances."

"Uh, same to you." Gohan said respectfully.

"The Dragon must be summoned in Namekian." Moori said.

"Well?" Vegeta gestured to the Dragon Balls. 

"Tell me your wishes."

"No. God Damn it, no! I'm not explaining myself to you again!" Vegeta growled, poking the elderly Namek in the chest, "You've already made enough trouble for me."

"We're trying to bring my mentor back to life." Gohan said, "The Namekian we were telling you about, when we first met." 

"And these Saiyans agreed to it?"

"It helps them too, if there are more Dragon Balls in the universe."

"Hmph." Moori sighed, "And the other two wishes?"

"Conditional Immortality for the both of us." Aspara said, gesturing to herself and Vegeta, "We want to be able to get hurt, and heal normally, but should a wound ever actually kill us, we'll be restored to life immediately."

"Why not regular immortality?" Krillan asked, "I mean never dying sounds good, I should know, I've had to be brought back once already. But why keep the pain?"

"Saiyans become stronger when we recover from the brink of death. Instantly healing from any wound we take wouldn't help us improve." Vegeta said, "Isn't that right brat? I'm sure your father's much stronger now that's he recovered from our little spa, that is, if he's even finished recovering yet."

"He's stronger than you." Gohan muttered.

"What was that brat?!" Vegeta growled, reaching over and grabbing Gohan, the other hand igniting with power. 

"Hey!" Krillan shouted, picking up a Dragon Ball and separating it from the others. The attention of the soldiers turned to him, away from Gohan, and the atmosphere of the situation turned deadly, "Put Gohan down."

"Don't fool around with me Earthling." Vegeta threatened.

* * *

 "Nail! What's going on?" Dende asked.

"The Guru! He's fading fast, if we don't make it in time..."

"Oh..." 

"I'm going to go at full speed, so just hang on!" His aura burst outwards as he poured all his energy into increasing his speed, the seas and rocky fields of Namek buzzing past faster than Dende could even take them in. 

"Those two..." Nail said, sensing two energy sources ahead of him, "Dende! We're almost to the tower, get there as fast as you can! Stop for nothing!"

"What?!-" Nail grabbed the child by his shoulders, before swinging him around and throwing Dende forward along their original path, almost as fast. Trusting that Dende would either make it in time, or not, Nail refocused his attention on the two enemies in front of him. 

"You two..." Nail growled, "You couldn't have landed more than an hour ago, and the very first thing you do is try to kill an old man?"

"You must be one of the locals." Mering said with a smirk, raising his finger, a tiny crackling light appearing on its tip, "And what's it to you? Relative of yours?"

"My father." Nail said, before vanishing from their view. The two soldiers quickly spun around, looking in every direction. 

"Hmph. Fast little bugger, but I don't think you'll be able to-" the moment he activated his scouter it detected Nail's energy, before promptly overloading and exploding. "Gah! Damn it. Cheap piece of junk."

Tarot's detected Nail's power more successfully, "I agree." The insectoid said, "Our scouters are obviously faulty, it's reading him as being nearly twice as strong as Dodoria."

"That's... that can't be right." Mering said nervously, before gasping as Nail materialized in front of him, the Namek's fist buried in his gut. The man went down instantly, unable to even choke out a warning to his partner. 

"Unfortunate." Tarot said, before holding his arms out to his sides. As Nail approached, the insectoid alien jerked both arms forward, poisoned spikes ejecting from his wrists. Nail avoided the projectiles easily, but him dodging gave Tarot the chance he needed to turn and run. 

Nail sneered, throwing a wave of power at the bug and sending him crashing down into the ground. "Who the hell are you? I assume you work for Freeza."

"We belong to the Freeza Force: Aspara Squadron, third and fourth in command." Tarot said simply, "You should know that Freeza will kill you for this defiance."

"Did you say Aspara?" Nail asked, "Both of you are her henchmen?"

"You are familiar with the Captain?"

"Call her." Nail hissed, gesturing to the scouter, "I'm allied with her, for lack of a better term. Though if my Dad doesn't survive what you two did... I'm sure she'll understand if I can't be bothered keeping you alive."

"Captain Aspara." Tarot called, not seeing any reason not to go along with the Namek's orders.

* * *

 

"What the- is Freeza trying to call me?"

"Don't answer!" Vegeta growled, not letting the beeping of the scouter distract him from his focus on Krillan.

"It's Tarot's scouter." Aspara said, "One of my men. I'm answering. It's not like he can track us down, just listen in. As long as we don't say where we are, we'll be fine. Just, everyone be quiet." she switched it on, "Tarot? This is your Captain. Freeza's turned against us. He's planning on killing me, and every other member of Aspara Squad. Don't say anything that'll make it obvious where your location is."

{Captain Aspara, Tarot reporting in. Mering and I landed approximately an hour ago. We alerted Freeza to our presence, and he ordered us to go to the ship. We destroyed a Namekian dwelling, before heading for the ship, although we didn't make much progress before we encountered a Namekian, who claims-}

"Not another word." Aspara ordered. "Freeza must not have told you, but he was planning on sparing the rest of the Namekians. They're a race that produces powerful warriors. Personally, I think killing them off is wasteful as well. You're to spare him. Send him on his way, but you two are to stay right where you are. We'll go to you."

{Mering is-}

"Shut it. I can tell from your tone. I'll be there soon enough. Now then... destroy your scouter, I'll be able to tell if you shut it off regularly."

{I am loyal to Freeza.} Tarot reported. {Lord Freeza, Mering's scouter was destroyed, and if you are listening, my location is AGGGH---} Aspara sighed as she heard the sound of a scouter getting destroyed. 

"Well?"

She turned off her scouter, looking to her brother, "My two remaining minions came to the planet, and nearly killed the being that created the Dragon Balls. Nail's probably killed them both now. Or at least destroyed their scouters."

Elder Moori looked shocked, "The Elder Guru was attacked?!" 

"We should make our wishes while we still can then." Gohan said quietly, stopping his struggling even as he was still held in the air by Vegeta. 

"Actually..." Moori said, "As much as it pains me to say, you should go see him while you still can."

"Why would we waste our time with something like that?"

"The Grand Elder created the Dragon Balls, and would know how to utilize them more than any other Namekian. But beyond that, have you wondered why Nail is leagues above every other Namekian warrior on the planet?"

Vegeta was interested, he respected Nail as someone who possessed great power, if nothing else, "Why?"

"The Grand Elder has the power to unlock hidden strength, to instantly realize someone's potential. Nail was already the most skilled of our warriors before the Guru released his potential, but afterwards... well your devices have read his power."

"It could be the edge we need." Aspara said.

"Fine!" Vegeta ceded, "But he had better be more cooperative than your lot."

Krillan let out a sigh of relief as Vegeta released Gohan, tossing the boy to the side. "Everyone grab a ball. We're seeing this Guru."

* * *

 

Nail carried the unconscious bodies of Aspara's two minions as he flew the rest of the distance to Guru's tower. What he saw both filled him with relief and dread. The mountain had been shattered, the Guru's home obliterated. And it had been Nail's home, as well. But the Guru was safe, breathing, and lying down on the grass nearby, Dende fretting over him. Nearby were gathered vases and bowls, gathered from the wreckage, filled with the water from the sea nearby. 

"Dende!"

"Oh! Nail, It was close, but I made it in time!"

"That's good. Good job, Dende."

"My... child...?" Guru asked, raising his hand slightly. 

"Lord Guru." Nail said firmly, bowing down next to his father and cupping his larger hand in his own, dropping both alien soldiers in the dirt nearby. 

"Ah... it is good you are here, Nail." the elderly Namek said, "I fear I won't have long for this world."

"You need to hang on, Lord Guru." Nail pressed, "You can't die before we save Namek from Freeza!"

"You have a plan?"

"It will need the Dragon Balls." 

"...Very well, I'll do everything I can to hang on."

* * *

 

Two hours later, Gohan and Krillan, as well as Vegeta, Aspara, Eenud, and Okra had arrived, Dragon Balls in hand.

"What are you doing here?! Why haven't you made your wishes?!" Nail growled.

"The Elder of that village suggested it would be worth our time to make use of your Guru's services." Aspara said, walking up to the old man, only for Nail to suddenly block her way. 

"What services?"

"He's going to unlock our potential, obviously. If the boost is substantial enough, combined with our immortality, we might actually be strong enough to defeat Freeza!" Vegeta said triumphantly, "Well? What are you waiting for?!"

Nail narrowed his eyes, "The unlocking of power is a sacred act, reserved only for those who have proved themselves-"

"Oh please!" Aspara shoved past him, grabbing the Guru's hand, "Do you Namekians really think you have a choice in the matter? We're the lesser of two evils, remember?"

"Don't you dare touch him!" Nail shouted, powering up. 

"Nail." Guru said, "I'm afraid... they're correct. We don't have much choice." The Namekian briefly concentrated, and Aspara's aura ignited with an intensity she hadn't felt before. The Saiyan woman began to laugh, "My power level must be near sixty thousand!" she declared proudly, "I'm the strongest Saiyan whose ever lived!"

"Ever lived YET, maybe." Vegeta said, an evil smile on his face, before grabbing Guru's hand next, the guru repeated the task, and Vegeta was just as elated as his sister, feeling the new well of energy in his veins. "Hahahaha! Aspara, do you think this is it?! I'd ask you to read me with the scouter, but I doubt the scouter would be strong enough to register me! I believe we made it! We're Super Saiyans! We must be!"

"Both of us?"

"What else could we be? No other Saiyan in history has held as much strength as the two of us... but if you can trust my ability to sense ki, I think I'm stronger than you, again."

"Must have not been living up to your potential then, Vegeta." 

"Or perhaps you just happened to lose more, Aspara."

"Um, Lord Guru, does doing this drain your life energy or anything?" Krillan asked. 

Guru smiled down at him, shaking his head slightly, "Nothing of the sort. I'm merely unlocking what you already have deep inside you. Come forward, everyone."

"Even me, Lord Elder?" Dende asked. 

"I might as well. If I would grant this gift to monsters like those two, I can't very well refuse one of my children."

Krillan, Gohan, Okra, Dende, and Eenud all had their own abilities unlocked, and reveled in their power. 

"With this... I'm sure we can win!" Vegeta declared, "Freeza feared the power of the Super Saiyan, and we'll teach him he was right to fear us!"

"Lord Freeza fears nothing." The group turned in surprise to Tarot, who had gotten back up, and was holding one of the Dragon Balls. "This... this is what Lord Freeza came for, is it not?"

"Hahaha!" Vegeta laughed, "What is this nonsensical farce, even without a scouter, you know both Aspara and I had you outclassed! Every person here could take you out, bug. What threat could you possibly make."

"I could do this." Without any warning, spikes began to eject from holes all over his body, before exploding after a short distance, filling the area with a sickly green-grey gas. Aspara immediately covered her mouth with her hand, and began to fire energy blasts into the mist, trying to hit her one-time subordinate. 

"It's poison! Don't breathe it in. it works even against beings of a higher level than him." she warned. The gas cloud slowly expanded, rolling away from them, only stopping once it went over the sea. 

"He's in the ocean!" Gohan shouted, before rocketing towards it, utilizing his new strength.

"Damn it!" Vegeta powered up, flying after him. "We don't have any more time for setbacks!"

 

* * *

 

The Attack Ball beeped a few times, and the hibernation gas deactivated, leaving the purple man inside to blink his way awake. It automatically awakened the one inside before impact, so that they could choose their landing site. 

"This is Captain Ginyu speaking. Ginyu Force, report in!"

{Guldo!}

{Recoome!}

{Burter!}

{Jeice!}

{Lord Freeza.}

Wait, that last one didn't have the same enthusiasm at the others- "Wha- Lord Freeza! Glad to hear from you. I assume we've made good time?"

{Yes. But I'm afraid we have a significant problem. The Namekian wish orbs are not a myth, and I intend to use them to grant myself, and perhaps you, my most loyal soldier, immortality.}

"I am honored, Lord Freeza!"

{However, there's a significant problem. Vegeta and Aspara have both gone traitor, the woman's squad turning traitor with her. And they have the Dragon Balls, the wishing orbs. I'd have killed them myself, but they've destroyed every scouter on the planet that they don't own.}

"Burter told me that Zarbon was killed by Aspara. How dreadful! I'll be sure to eliminate them. "

{Yes, you will. But top priority is retrieving the Dragon Balls. Big orange crystals with red stars inside them. I need all seven, or it won't work.}

"Of course, sir. I'll take care of it personally."

{Tell your men to feel free to play with them as much as they want... I want those Saiyans to suffer, before they die.}

"They'll be delighted, Lord Freeza." Ginyu said with a smirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Goku and the Ginyu Force finally appear next chapter.  
> Also, Power Levels:  
> (Before Guru-Boost)  
> Krillan: (1,800) 13,000  
> Gohan: (2,000) 17,000  
> Okra: (1,300) 6,000  
> Eenud: (3,000) 9,000  
> Aspara: (44,000) 62,000  
> Vegeta: (30,000) 65,000  
> Nail: 42,000  
> Mering: 1,500  
> Tarot: 2,500


	4. Chapter 4

The three Saiyans led the charge, vaporizing huge swaths of the venom gas with ki blasts, while Eenud charged in to try and grab Tarot personally. His species could go holding their breath for quite a bit longer than his mammalian comrades. 

Once most of the poison was cleared, the entire group began to search the ocean, Krillan, Nail, Vegeta, and Gohan using their ki sense to try and find him, while Eenud and Okra peppered the sea with ki blasts, hoping to get lucky and drive him back out into the air. 

"Damn it! Why can't I sense him!?" Vegeta growled.

Gohan frowned, "He was already pretty weak, with the beating Nail gave him. There's a lot of fish down there who have more ki than him... usually I can tell the ki of people and animals apart, but he doesn't feel... evil, not like you do, Vegeta. Or like any of you, besides Krillan and Nail."

Eenud nodded, "He was always very simple-minded. He's ruthless, but not sadistic, like most of us. He had a goal; do what Freeza wanted him to do. And he did what he needed to meet it. Never very creative, or talkative. I guess he may as well have an animal brain."

"Errrgggh." Vegeta moaned in irritation, "Why not just vaporize the whole sea?"

"Besides the fact you might destroy my planet?" Nail asked, annoyed.

"And destroy the Dragon Ball?" Aspara asked, surprised. 

"Well, how hard are they?" Vegeta asked the earthlings.

"Pretty hard." Krillan said, "I've never tried to break one, but I've seen the smaller ones on Earth take a lot of punishment... not, uh, Vegeta-Level punishment, and who knows if the Namekian Balls are more fragile."

"Grrr... Well I can't do nothing!"

"Spread out." Aspara ordered, "Watch the coastlines. He can't hold his breath too long. I've seen him nearly drown before."

"Won't work. There's plenty of creatures down there that can burrow."

Krillan blinked, before smacking himself on the head, "Darn it! The Dragon Radar!"

"Radar?" Okra asked. 

"We used it to find the Dragon Balls! We left it with Bulma!" Gohan cried. "Even if he hides it on the bottom of the ocean, we can still find the Dragon Ball!"

"Well?! Go get it!" Vegeta shouted, pointing back the way they came. 

"G-Got it!" Gohan flew off as fast as he could, becoming a shining speck on the horizon.

Aspara sighed, looking into the murks. "It could well be another two hours then before we catch him."

"Shit!" Vegeta cursed, throwing a huge blast into the sea and evaporating an iceberg's worth of water. No sign of Tarot. He fumed angrily, when Nail suddenly winced, looking to the Grand Elder and flying his way, "No, don't tell me we're out of time!"

"No, Guru looks stable." Nail reported, the others catching up to him, ignoring Tarot for the time being. 

"I sense... five great energies, approaching this world." Guru said, gesturing to the sky, "All of them are malicious. I fear that our enemy has reinforcements."

"The... the Ginyu Force. Has it been five days already?!"

"It's hard to tell, with the constant sunlight." Krillan said, looking nervous, "Are these Ginyu Force baddies a big deal?"

"A big deal?! They're only Freeza's elite special unit! The worst of the worst, the most dangerous beings in the galaxy, under Freeza's own family, are recruited into them! Each one has committed horrors on intergalactic scales!"

Aspara smiled, "He's idolized them since he was a kid. But then Vegeta didn't make the cut. He's still bitter."

"You didn't either!" Vegeta snapped back.

"Ah, but I was making more progress than you were. I almost got my level to forty-thousand, before Freeza turned on me. I had a real shot."

"Shut up!" Vegeta growled, but he closed his eyes, trying to sense the energy of the five flamboyant elites, "I thought that we had grown strong enough that they wouldn't be a problem... the two of us have risen above the likes of Burter and Jeice. But Recoome is at our level, and Ginyu... is still twice as strong as us."

"Hahaha!" Aspara began to laugh, grinning at Vegeta, "Have you already stopped thinking like a Saiyan, Vegeta? We don't worry about opponents just because they're only five times as powerful as we are."

"What are you on about-" he jerked back as she tapped him in the back with her tail, he looked vaguely annoyed when she did it again, before his grin became utterly evil, "Your tail... Ginyu won't know what hit him."

* * *

 

Bulma paced along the floor of her Capsule House hidden in the cave, furious. This entire trip had been shit! She spent nearly a week hiding in a cave, while Gohan and Krillan got to go out and explore a whole alien world!

She was the scientist! She was the inventor! She was the one with the Dragon Radar! Thinking of it, she walked back over and checked on the Dragon Balls again, it was almost a nervous tick, with nothing else to do. She expected to see all seven together, but... one was moving away from the others, at not quite Krillan's usual high speed, while the rest sat in a pile. And the thing was, the remaining ball was heading for her. 

Were they bringing the ball back? 

Deciding she had enough of this nonsense happening without anyone telling her what was going on, she walked over to her lab table, looking at the gear they had stolen off of the two aliens Krillan and Gohan killed when they arrived. 

Bulma had long disassembled one of the pair's gear, one set of armor lying around in strips, the arm cannon displayed on the desk with its innards neatly pulled out like a middle school biology project. But the other set... She picked up the arm blaster, considering. The weapon had ripped clear through a space ship. It'd definitely do damage to whatever alien assaulter she might meet. And she had the armor, and a scouter. Smiling, she pulled together a suitable outfit, featuring the alien technology. 

Deploying a Capsule containing her fastest plane, she climbed aboard and set the Dragon Radar on the dashboard, watching the other Dragon Ball. "Leave me out of the fun, will you?" She asked herself, "Not Bulma fucking Briefs, you won't."

* * *

 

Five Attack Balls landed with an eruption of earth, marking the ground around the two ships with craters. As one, the five elites left their pods, and lined up in front of the waiting Freeza. Then... they began their dance.

Arms to the right! "RECOOME!"

Arms to the left! "BURTER!"

A bow, then raising both hands like wings! "JEICE!"

The other knee! "GULDO!"

Legs proudly apart, back to their Lord! But, what's this?! Bending over, looking through his own legs! "GINYU!"

"TOGETHER WE MAKE..."  Jeice making a pose of victory, Burter as if he were about to take flight, Recoome displaying his muscles, Guldo crossing his arms and putting a hand to his chin, looking thoughtful, and Ginyu, low to the ground, the center of the group! "THE GINYU FORCE!!!"

Freeza stared for a few seconds, before deciding to just rudely ignore the beautiful display of true manliness before him. "I'm glad you made it. As you can see from the state of my flagship, things didn't go well here."

"Quite." Ginyu said.

"The scouters you asked for, my Lord." Jeice reached down to the case he had brought with him from his Attack Ball, displaying it for Freeza.

"Ah, thank you. It's good to finally see some reliable men around here. Now then, Vegeta and Ex-Captain Aspara have finally turned traitor. Aspara's killed Zarbon and most of my men."

"What of Dodoria, my Lord?" Ginyu asked.

"What **_about_** Dororia?" 

"Nothing." Ginyu said quickly, backpedaling. He was one of the few beings in the universe that Freeza respected enough that he wouldn't kill him just for making him mad. But when dealing with the most powerful person alive, he still would rather not risk it, "What would you have us do?"

"I want you to take down Aspara and Vegeta, without killing them. Feel free to make them suffer first, but I want to finish them myself... besides, I need them to tell me where the Dragon Balls are. If you should see the items I described, they are top priority, Ginyu will bring them directly back to me. Understood?"

"Yes Lord Freeza!" The five intoned as one, doing another set of poses. 

"...Yes. Well, get a move on."

"Of course!" Captain Ginyu activated his scouter, before balking, "This... this can't be right. Everyone! The power levels in that direction!" he pointed to the horizon, "Tell me what they are!"

"Of course Cap'n." Jeice said, turning on his own device, "Lessee ere'... shit, that can't be right either."

"My results are obviously wrong as well." Burter hissed. 

"Tell me what they are!" Ginyu barked. 

Recoome was the only one who wasn't fazed, instead sounding genuinely interested, "The biggest one is 65,000 captain! Then there's 62,000 and a 42,000 and 13,000 and a 9,000 and a 6,000 and a 1,500."

"I... I got the same readouts, Captain." Guldo confirmed. 

"I don't get it! The scouters can't all go haywire in the same way, can they?" Jeice complained, "I've got the same bloody numbers!"

"Then we must assume that those readouts are real." Ginyu said, suddenly deathly serious. He was watching Freeza. 

"The... the blasted monkeys..." Freeza muttered, "At levels of 60,000? Could the legend actually be realized?"

"Lord Freeza?"

"Kill them all. You still outnumber the ones that are an actual threat, and most of your levels aren't too far below their own."

"Of... Of course, Lord Freeza." Burter said. 

"We'll mop the floor with em' right Captain? Just'll be a challenge, this time."

"Rightyoh Jeice! That's the attitude we need." 

Guldo was merely smiling, it didn't matter how powerful you are, in stopped time.

Recoome was smiling as well, it had been a long time since he had a real challenge.

* * *

 

Tarot was breathing heavily. He was soaking wet, carrying the Dragon Ball over land. He didn't dare fly using his ki, for fear of the traitors chasing him down, so he was resorting to flying using his wings, and after so long simply using his energy to carry him, it was truly exhausting. 

But he refused to give up. His hive-mind mentality had served his kind well among Freeza's soldiers. They had been donated to Freeza in exchange for sparing their homeworld, and had been programmed from birth to be as loyal to the Arcosian as he was to his own queen. He would do whatever it takes, to get this Ball to Lord Freeza. 

When he saw the jet-plane in the distance, he couldn't believe his luck. It had to be a tourist of some kind, and she was flying far faster than he could carry himself with his wings. He just had to steal it, and getting back to Freeza would be all the easier. The plane's pilot seemed to notice him, so it turned to the side, and rather than flee, like Tarot was afraid it would, the plane instead set down. 

The pilot, a blue-haired mammalian humanoid, wearing the armor of a Freeza Force grunt, tapped the scouter on her face and frowned at the number. "I am Tarot of the former Aspara Squadron. I don't recognize you." Tarot said, flying down to her. "I didn't know the Freeza Force accepted-"

"What, women?"

"No, people incapable of self-propelled flight. Though it's rare women last long in our business. Why do you have this craft?"

"Oh, well, I'm a scout. New division. This thing can fly faster than I can using my energy, so we use them to cover more distance. And it's not like they're much more expensive than our other gear. Freeza likes his efficiency, you know."

"Ah." Tarot presented the Dragon Ball. "I've managed to steal this from Captain Aspara and the other traitors. I overheard they need all seven to steal Lord Freeza's wish. We should get this to him immediately."

"Ah, got it."

"Have you already contacted him?"

"No, no, I'll do it right now. Go ahead and put that in the back of the jet, we've got a special compartment for high-value items." She said professionally. 

Tarot nodded, walking around to the back of the jet, looking around for some kind of compartment, when without warning the jets activated. He barely had time to shield the Dragon Ball with his body before the heat scorched him, and the force of the ignition tossed him away, his armor was fireproof, but his carapace wasn't. He quickly flew, not bothering to hide his ki, straight into the nearest body of water, submerging himself, and dropping the Dragon Ball to protect it, before rising back out of it. "What is the meaning of this?" he asked. 

"Sorry! The engine activated." the woman shouted from the cockpit. "Cheap thing, eh?" she hit the dashboard once, smiling wide, "But you're a tough guy, right? Didn't bother you, did it?"

"..." he was beginning to grow suspicious, "What squad do you belong to?"

"The scouting division, I told you."

"Who leads it?"

"There's not many of us. We report directly to Freeza."

"Not to Zarbon?"

Bulma sighed, "Okay, I had my fun. You're not falling for it." 

"What are you talking about-" she raised the arm cannon at him, and fired. He barely had time to get out of the way, before the blast ripped across the air between them, exploding into the ground behind him, "Stop!" he shouted, but Bulma fired again, this time taking out one of his legs just as he was rising from the ground. He winced, but fought through the pain, summoning his ki to blast at woman. Bulma hit a button on the plane, and it jumped ahead once more, the engines roaring to life, the energy blast Tarot threw exploding behind her. 

Bulma narrowed her eyes, squeezing the trigger on the arm blaster three more times. Tarot became a blur, dodging the blasts, and beginning to catch up with her speeding jet. Gritting her teeth, she swore under her breath, before twisting on the controls. The jet spun through the air, shaking harshly, before it was rocketing in the direction it came, straight for Tarot. She fired again and again, the energy blasts getting dodged, or with some effort on Tarot's part, deflected with his own ki blasts.

Bulma slammed her hand down on a button, and the jets shuddered as she pushed the jet past its safety limit. It kicked as it suddenly gained more thrust. She smiled, firing to Tarot's left, so he was forced to dodge into the path of the plane. 

Tarot closed his eyes and braced himself as the pointed tip of the jet slammed into his chest, his dark grey blood spraying across the windshield of Bulma's plane. The blue-haired woman stood in her seat, using one hand to balance herself on the ship, and then pointing her blaster at Tarot's head. 

"I failed." Tarot apologized to Freeza, before Bulma pulled the trigger, erasing his head in an instant. She quickly slowed her plane back to a reasonable speed, and followed the Radar back to the place where he had dropped the Dragon Ball. She climbed out of her jet, and looked at Tarot's remains with some disgust. 

"That's going to take a while to clean." She said with distaste, before smiling down at her blaster, "Hah! I can't wait to rub Yamcha's face that I defeated someone as strong as Raditz without a lick of martial arts training!" She looked triumphant, until she glanced at the radar once more and saw that the Dragon Ball was at the bottom of the lake, "Capsule plane, in you go. Out you come, Capsule Sub!" She grinned as the vehicle appeared in the water, "Always come prepared."

* * *

 

Mering wilted under Nail's glare as the soldier walked forward to receive his own awakening of potential from Guru. "I feel I should perhaps apologize." He began,   
"I didn't know that there was anyone at the top of that mountain, I just... saw it and shot?"

Guru heaved as he let out a long-suffering sigh, "I suppose that you are an apologetic monster if nothing else. Use this strength to make amends, young one." 

"Yes." He jolted as Guru released his potential, the alien smiling as his strength jumped up significantly. 

Aspara tapped her scouter, and smiled appreciatively. "You've gone from 1,500 to 7,000."

"Aw." Okra said, the quiet brute looking disappointed, "I was getting used to being the second-strongest henchman."

Eenud patted him on the back, "Just make an effort, Okra. You're still relying on the Blaster after all. But with you're strength, you should be able to make a much stronger blast on your own."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Are we really going to have to fight the Ginyu force?" Mering asked nervously, looking at the group around him. "Even if Captain Aspara and Vegeta have gotten a big boost, can we really stand up to the elites?"

"I'm sure if the three of us band together we can defeat one of them!" Eenud said triumphantly. 

"That... doesn't sound very impressive." Mering commented, before looking to Krillan, "What about you, want to join us and round out the weakling foursome?"

"Heh, might as well." Krillan said, "Though I'm the toughest of the four of us non-Saiyans, and uh, non-Namekians, I guess."

"Don't worry about a thing." Vegeta said confidently. "Once Aspara transforms, she'll be able to take out the Ginyu Force single-handedly!" Vegeta smiled evilly, "We won't have to worry about immortality, now. I wish we hadn't lost the Dragon Ball, I would have used my wish to get my tail back so I could join her. As it is, I suppose I'll just leave Ginyu to her, and I'll make do with the rest."

"We should leave this area. Letting the Ginyu Force fight around the Elder won't be good for his health." Nail said, looking to Dende, "Please, protect the Elder as best as you can. If Gohan makes it back here, instead of joining our battle, tell him to try and get the Dragon Ball back. Wish for a Namek named Piccolo to come to life."

"Should... should I still make the Saiyans immortal?"

"No." Vegeta shouted, "I think I'm sure, actually. Wish for my tail to grow back, it'll be more useful."

"Okay." Dende said. "And the third wish?"

"I still want my conditional immortality." Aspara said, "You do remember the wording, don't you?"

"Yes." Dende said, nodding seriously, "You will take damage as you normally would, only once you receive a mortal wound and die will your body will rejuvenate and you return to life."

"Very good." Aspara said, satisfied. She rose into the air, and gestured for Nail to take the lead. 

Vegeta concentrated, "They're coming for us." he said, getting more and more excited for the battle to come. It was a Saiyan's greatest joy, testing his strength against a just-as-powerful opponent.

"Let's meet them halfway, then." Nail said. 

The group of seven took off, heading towards their opponents. 

* * *

 

"Captain Ginyu, what's the plan?" Jeice asked.

"Well, our top priority is the Dragon Balls. I'm going to have to take a personal hand in it right away. I'm thinking of grabbing whoever is at 62,000. It'll likely be either Vegeta or Aspara. I'll knock whoever it is out, and bring them back for Freeza to interrogate the Dragon Ball location out of. If they bring the Balls with them, then I'll take those and get back to Freeza, and you'll have them all to yourselves."

"Understood, sir."

"I think I can see them." Burter shouted, pointing ahead. 

The lineup was somewhat impressive mix and match of species, colors, and heights on both sides. 

"Captain Aspara!" Captain Ginyu shouted, coming to a stop a good distance away, and slowly lowering to the ground on the grassy plain. 

"Captain Ginyu!" Aspara shouted back, grinning wide.

"Where are the Dragon Balls?"

"We must have left them behind." She said, gesturing behind her. "Don't remember exactly where, though."

"Don't play games with me! You think an insignificant boost will make any difference when fighting Freeza?"

"Insignificant?" Vegeta cried, butting in, "We're the most powerful Saiyans in recorded history, we've transcended our limits, and entered into the Legend!" 

"We are the one thing Freeza fears, Ginyu. We're Super Saiyans now." 

"Delude yourselves if you will." Ginyu said simply, "You're coming with me Aspara." he gestured to the men behind him, "Divvy up the others among yourselves, but I want two of you against Vegeta. No need to make things fair."

"Got it!" The four members of the Ginyu Force shouted, before turning to each other. "Rock! Paper! Scissors!"

"Aw." Guldo complained. "How many of the weaklings do I get?"

"Rock! Paper! Scissors!"

"Nuts." Burter cursed. "I guess I'm getting the Namekian and whatever weaklings Guldo doesn't horde."

"Guess you and me are handling Vegeta, mate." Jeice said, elbowing Recoome. 

"Just give me a chance to beat him on my own, alright Jeice?" Recoome asked, "It's been a long time since I found someone on my level!"

"Fair enough." Ginyu said. "Aspara, you don't mind, do you?"

"Playing along with your rules?" she looked between the five members of their enemy's group, considering it. "I suppose it works out better for us that way. But we don't follow your rules, if we see an opportunity, don't think we'll waste it."

"Fair enough." Ginyu gestured forward, "Guldo, you're up."

"Weakling Foursome!" Krillan shouted, punching the air, "Attack!" 

Mering and Okra shared a glance, nearly breaking up laughing, but Eenud simply followed the order, screaming as he charged forward. Soon enough the other three followed after him, gunning for Guldo.

The pudgy green alien smiled, sucking in a deep breath, then vanishing. He was behind them in an instant, but they were faster than he was expecting, and Krillan had nearly closed the distance to where Guldo had been the moment before. Krillan swung his head to the side, feeling more with ki than with his eyes where Guldo had moved. "There he is!" Krillan shoved both hands forward, a massive beam of yellow energy bursting from his hands, soon enough, the other three joined in, Eeenud had opened his mouth wide, releasing a beam of purple ki from it, while Okra began firing his arm blaster as fast as he could, and Mering's red bullet-sized blasts twinkled as they outraced the other projectiles.

"D-Damn it!" Guldo cried, stopping time once more, backing away in a hurry from the onslaught of ki that had, until a moment before, been racing at him. He looked back at the attackers, intending to attack while they were distracted, but Krillan had already begun to move, a distance from the others, his eyes looking away from the spot Guldo had been standing before time stopped. The earthling already knew Guldo would dodge it!

The pyschic seethed in rage, getting a good distance away before releasing his hold on time. The ground shook as the blasts collided with the earth that Guldo had been standing on a moment before. He was breathing hard, and there would be no way he could stop time again so soon after using it consecutively. He reached out with his telekinesis, grabbing Krillan, and holding him in place. He reached into the ground below, and yanked upwards a spire of stone, intending on spearing the short human. 

But before the stone could get within twenty feet of Krillan, it blew apart in an explosion, twinkling red. Mering smirked, before directing his finger in Guldo's direction and rapid-firing the tiny but potent energy blasts.

Guldo flew for it, but found himself trapped between Okra and Eenud, the two floating around him. "Grrr... Don't underestimate me!" he shot his arms out, screwing all four eyes shut as he took hold telekinetically of all four warriors, raising them high in the air, before reaching back into the ground to bring out more stone spikes. 

Krillan smiled, "Hey, four-eyes!"

"What do you want? To say your last words?"

"Actually, I wanted to show you something!"

"What?"

"Solar Flare!" Krillan shouted. 

Guldo screamed as he desperately covered his four eyes to hide them from the light, but realized too late he had lost concentration. "N-no!" He attempted to freeze time as he took in the sight of the three other warriors closing in on him, but only managed a few seconds, barely dodging their first flurry of strikes. The next attempt was more successful on their end, landing solid hits on him. Krillan dealt the last blow, kicking Guldo's head hard enough to send the green alien bouncing off the ground, safely unconscious. "That's one victory for the Weakling Foursome!" Eenud proclaimed happily.

Krillan's smile at their victory faltered a little as he heard Eenud's words, "I think we should knock it off with that, before it starts to stick. I don't want to be branded as the leader of the Weakling Foursome for the rest of my life."

"Agreed." Mering said, pointing his finger at Guldo, "Now to just properly erase this trash-"

"No!" Krillan said, "Look, I'm all for doing whatever you need to when fighting for your life, but he's already soundly beaten. What does killing him now do?"

"Make sure he doesn't get back up and fight us again?" Mering asked, feeling like he was stating the obvious.

"We don't kill people when they're harmless."

"But that's the best time to kill people." Mering whined, before backing off when he saw the look of horror on Krillan's face. The human was nearly twice as strong as him, after all. It was for the best that he didn't push him.

"Damn it Guldo." Burter murmured. "Fine! I guess I'll just have to clean up after him!" He did a pose, before moving incredibly quickly onto the battelfield. "Namekian! Come join these losers, I'll take care of all five of you myself! Nothing in the universe compares to my speed!"

* * *

 

Gohan caught up with Bulma, first heading for the Capsule House, and afterwards using his sense of smell to follow her and her plane's scent, not to mention his ki sense. 

"Bulma! Where are you, I need the radar!" He shouted, coming to the end of the trail, before staring in horror at the mangled body of Tarot. "Wh-What happened here?"

Soon enough the submarine surfaced, and Bulma opened the hatch slowly, "Hail Freeza!" she shouted as soon as it opened, "Oh, it's just you, Gohan. You're so powerful I was sure another soldier found me."

"What are you doing in alien armor?"

"I wasn't going to go out on this dangerous alien world without protection." Bulma said, grinning. "Oh, and look what I found." She reached into the sub, pulling out the Dragon Ball. 

"The Dragon Ball!"

"Yep."

"But... who killed Tarot?"

"I did, Gohan."

"But he's dangerous!"

"So?" Bulma said, showing off the arm blaster, "These things sure put out a punch, to let us normal folks keep up with all you monsters." 

"Wow, Bulma." Gohan said, honestly impressed, "That's amazing. Now we can get our wish!"

"Alright." Bulma said, getting out of the sub and turning it into a Capsule, "So, are you going to try and ditch me again, this time?"

"We didn't ditch you." Gohan said nervously.

"You did!" she shot back, "And you're not doing it again. Unless you're going off to fight the bad guys right now, I'm going with you." she said defiantly, wrapping her arms protectively around the Dragon Ball.

Gohan looked hesitant for a few seconds, but he relented. "We'll head to the Guru's place and try and make our wish."

* * *

 

Burter laughed as he threw Nail bodily into the ground, leaving a crater behind. Krillan tried to get a shot off, but Burter seemed to let the blast phase through him, darting to the side a foot during the moment the blast would have hit him, and then moving back into his original position. "Hahaha! This is pathetic, all of you!" 

"Darn it, if you could just, hold still!" Krillan screamed, forming a Destructo Disc over each hand and sending them flying at the blue menace. Burter dodged the attacks just as easily as the previous ones, flinging himself forward at high speed, his hand impacting Krillan's chest in an open-palm strike. The human coughed up blood, being sent flying backwards and creating a crater nearby Nail's.

Okra managed to pull himself from his own matching crater, raising his arm blaster, only to let out a sad gasp as it fell apart, the ruined machine unable to take Burter's strike from earlier. "M-My cannon!" 

"Too bad." Burter whispered in his ear, the massive blue alien suddenly behind him. 

"Gah! Take this!" Okra kicked out at him, but Burter wasn't there anymore. When Okra blinked, he was looking out over the crater-pocked field, and when he opened his eyes again he was buried face-first in a solid boulder. 

"Pathetic! All of you." Burter said dismissively. "You'd be best put out of your misery." a blue ball of energy began building in his open hand, before his scouter activated, alerting him to Aspara just a second too late. 

The Saiyan shoved her knee into Burter's gut, causing him to cough harshly and destroying that patch of his armor. He jumped backwards, but she was on him instantly, darting out punches. He was still faster, but not by too much, now that he was comparing. Burter landed a punch to her forehead, only to find that his moment of brief success was a ruse. While he was distracted Vegeta had shot around behind him, delivering a harsh two-handed strike to his back. His armor shattered from the impact on the back as well.

Not letting up, the two Saiyans began to punch and kick with all they had. While Burter was reeling, he couldn't dodge the rain of blows, becoming a bruised mess. Vegeta coated his hand in his purple ki, and drove it hard against the top of Burter's head, sending the blue alien careening downwards unconscious. 

"Burter! Mate!" Jeice screamed, about to fly into the fray, when Recoome held him back. 

"Don't." Recoome said, grinning. "Let me try first!"

"Ugh. Jeice, you're with me. Let's drive Aspara away from her brother."

"Got it Captain."

The three remaining Ginyu Force members rocketed forward, and the two Saiyans grinned in anticipation. 

Jeice tackled Aspara, while Recoome did the same with Vegeta. Both of them fighting as furiously as they could, distracting their respective Saiyans more than enough while Ginyu got into a position that suited him. "Jeice!" Ginyu shouted. 

Jeice broke away, and Aspara moved to follow him, but was caught by Ginyu's beam. She was thrown into the ground harshly, but quickly recovered, sending a storm of violent green balls of energy flying his way. Ginyu darted around the attack, not taking a single blow, and open fired on her again, another beam forcing her back to the ground. 

Vegeta was fighting back against Recoome just as furiously, throwing his all into the fight. He had the advantage in ferocity, speed, and genuine skill. But Recoome just didn't react to pain like most creatures did, and was even somehow more durable than even someone with a power level of 65,000 had a right to be. The red-headed warrior proudly screamed the names of his attacks as he retaliated against Vegeta, knocking the prince back through the air, and then forcing Vegeta to dodge out of the way of even more Eraser Guns. 

"I think it's time I finished this, Ginyu!" She screamed.

"Indeed." He said, charging another blast as Jeice kept her busy. 

"Power Ball!" She cried, creating a blindingly bright orb, and throwing it into the sky. Ginyu was confused for a second, she wasn't even aiming for him. But that was when Jeice cried out, flying away from her as she grew, larger and larger. Thick black hair sprouted all over her body, and her face twisted from that a beautiful woman's into that of a savage ape's. 

"Oh god." Jeice murmured. 

Ginyu's scouter recorded the Power Level as best it could, but he didn't need it, and shut off the device before it exploded from the overpowering presence. He knew that the Oozaru form had a battle intensity ten times that of a Saiyan in base form. It was what made Saiyans so feared, despite the fact that most technically only had average power levels, when it came to Freeza's forces. 

Ginyu knew that Freeza's power level was 530,000. But right now, even a child could do the math. 62,000 times 10 equals 620,000. 

It was only now, witnessing the massively powerful enemy in front of him, that he understood Freeza's sometimes irrational-seeming paranoia regarding Saiyans.

She slapped him from the sky before he had the chance to react, he bounced off the ground like a skipping stone, making four impacts before rolling to a halt, his armor devastated. 

But he was grinning wide. He flew back to the battle as fast as he could, not bothering holding back his power. He witnessed Aspara in her Oozaru form grab Jeice and bounce him off Recoome, sending both warriors flying. Vegeta was laughing maniacally, applauding his sister on her power. 

"Hey! Aspara!" Captain Ginyu roared. 

She turned her head to look at him, and Ginyu smiled, he jabbed his fist into his chest, leaving a terrible wound, before yelling "CHANGE NOW!"

* * *

 Goku's eyes snapped open as he sat in his ship. He had finished his training at 100 times gravity, and now felt like he could even take on this Freeza King Kai was so terrified of. 

His ki sense had improved along with all his abilities, so when he felt the huge burst of power coming from the planet below, he grinned. He had never even considered someone so powerful existing!

Doing some last stretches, and making sure the remaining few senzu beans were in the bag, he waited for the ship to make its landing nearby the battle. 

* * *

 

Aspara blinked, confused, as her entire perspective changed. One moment, she had been looking at Captain Ginyu, but now she was looking at...

Herself.

In Oozaru form, red eyes narrowed in her direction, her long hair in base form having become a huge mane of shaggy black spikes that made the huge Oozaru seem even bigger.

"What the hell?!" She screamed, shocked when Captain Ginyu's voice came out. "That's- he stole my body!" She then winced as a huge pain in her chest blossomed. She touched the wound, and her fingers came away covered in blue blood. "That bastard! He even left me with damaged goods!"

Vegeta wasn't listening though, he was too wrapped up in watching her- her body's rampage. She was forced to push her new body to the limit in order to dodge an utterly massive and far too fast punch. The impact of her body's fist with the ground sent shockwaves all around, the plains almost buckling under the force. She felt a sudden surge of deep empathy with her millions of victims over the years.

"Oh Vegeta." her own voice said, coming out of her lips, "Come over here."

Vegeta listened without a second thought, sneering at Aspara as he passed, his eyes filled with pride, "What is it Aspara?"

"Oh, I'm not Aspara." her body said, before swinging a fist into Vegeta at full force. She winced as Vegeta went flying, his limbs loose in the wind like a ragdoll. She flew after him, grabbing onto his shoulders and taking the impact with the ground for them both.

"Wh-What the hell..." Vegeta murmured, barely conscious after such a strike.

 "Vegeta, it's me, Aspara." She said, "Ginyu did something, and now I'm controlling his body, and he's controlling my body!"

"What?!" he looked into her eyes for a few seconds, and something in them seemed to connect with him, and he backed away in horror, "That's disgusting!"

"Shut up!" She growled, "Look, we need to get him out of my body. Otherwise we've made Captain Ginyu unstoppable." 

"Maybe Gohan will manage to find the Dragon Ball, and they'll wish my tail back. Then I'd be able to hold your body back while we figured something out."

"Is... is that a ship?" Aspara asked, looking away from Vegeta at the sky, "I've never seen one that looks like that."

"Must be Kakarot's." Vegeta muttered. 

"Kakarot?"

"His brat mentioned he'd be coming. About time, but it's not like he'll make any difference."

"Damn it. We should retreat for now, at least until that Power Ball runs out of energy. Namek doesn't have any moons." She looked down at her body, and smiled. "He wounded himself before he traded our bodies, but my new body is more powerful than my old one. If we can make my body turn back, we can win."

"Planning on keeping it?" Vegeta asked, slightly disgusted with the idea.

"No. Ginyu himself knew my Oozaru transformation was worth trading up for. Besides, it holds sentimental value."

"Heh." 

The orb-like ship was in the process of landing, when Ginyu smiled savagely, his new jaw full of fangs then opening wide and releasing a huge blast of energy from his maw. The ship was engulfed and incinerated, leaving nothing behind but slag, and an unharmed, glowing red, Saiyan.

Aspara and Vegeta stared in shock as Goku flew forward, screaming as his red aura increased in intensity once more. 

"Kaio Ken times three!" Goku shouted, before rocketing forward into Ginyu's neck. The Oozaru was sent flailing backwards, making horrible coughing sounds. 

"Kaio what?!" Ginyu managed, two blazing beams fired from his huge eyes, striking against Goku and sending him spinning away, part of his shirt scorched away from the heat.

"Times... four!" Ginyu raised a foot to smash Goku into the ground, only to find himself getting picked up and thrown by his toe. As Ginyu was sent sprawling through the air, Goku raced along his body, screaming as he punched, leaving hundreds of pin-prick impacts all along his side. He crashed into the ground with the force of a small meteor, and struggled to get back to his feet. Seeing the red flare of Goku speeding around in his periphery vision, he began to launch energy blasts in every direction. 

"Agh!" Goku shouted, diving underneath one of them and pouring forth energy. "Not... working! Fine! Kaio Ken times six!" The blue wave of ki swelled, and collided with Ginyu's green blast, overwhelming it. Looking towards the others still on collision course with the ground, Goku flung ki bursts out to every one that he could see, detonating them before they touched Namek's surface. "Are you an idiot!? You could have blown up the planet, and then we'd both be screwed!" Goku shouted up at him, before shifting into one of the most familiar stances he knew. 

"Y-you're impossible!" Ginyu shouted, staring at the glowing-red Saiyan, "What are you?! Who are you?! The kind of power you're putting out..." Ginyu knew he was the more powerful one, and the attacks that Goku landed on his body so far weren't much more than bruises. But knowing that his power was greater than that of Freeza's first form, but still taking damage from a mere... whatever he was, it was unnerving. 

"My name is Son Goku." He answered, cupping his hands together, blue energy building up inside them, creating a stark difference with his bright scarlet aura, "And I'm a Saiyan from Earth."

"A... Saiyan!?" Captain Ginyu said, his stolen eyes widening. 

"I don't know who you are, lady, but you're wearing Freeza's armor, you destroyed the ship I was going to take my family home on, and you almost destroyed an entire world with your carelessness." Goku said, his eyes narrowing at Ginyu, "I'm going to take you down! Kaio Ken! Times! Seven!" once again, the aura flared in intensity, the air around Goku beginning to waver and spin as his ki shook the space around him. "KAAAMEEEEHAAAAMEEE!" 

"No! Parmesan Shower!" Captain Ginyu slammed his hands together, and green-tinted ki erupted from his hands, exploding out into thousands of arcing beams, heading straight for Goku. 

"HAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!" the blue wave of pure destruction exploded from his hands, thrust in Ginyu's direction. Any green streamer of Parmesan Shower that came into contact with the Kamehameha wave was eradicated, its power adding to Goku's own and crashing against Ginyu's chest. 

He was flung high into the sky, his armor smoking and cracking as the energy wave pushed through, burning its way across Ginyu. As he was sent flying, he crashed into the Power Ball Aspara had formed earlier, the condensed ball of ki exploded against his back, and triggered both the end of the transformation, and his fall back to Earth. 

Aspara and Vegeta watched, slack-jawed. Vegeta's mind was filled with a never-ending cacophony of doubt, anger, and confusion. 

But Aspara's mind was utterly focused, simply taking him in. His casual destruction of a thought-unstoppable foe. The ruthless ferocity, the quick-thinking, the all-encompassing power! This is what a Saiyan is. The shining, blood-colored, aura of power he emitted sent a shiver down her spine. As Goku's aura dissipated entirely, and the man let out a sigh of relief, she felt herself floating towards him. 

 He watched as Ginyu crashed to the ground, his stolen body barely able to move from the impact. Goku glanced at Aspara, an expression of confusion, and then acceptance, passed over his face, taking in the body Ginyu had forced on her. "I'll get to you in a minute." Goku said, before walking over to Ginyu, and squatting down to look him in the eye. "So, are you going to keep on fighting?"

"No..." Ginyu said with a smile, "I've found something worth keeping! CHANGE-"

"My chance!" Aspara shouted, leaping forward with all the strength Ginyu's previous body could muster. Goku's eyes widened as he took in the sight of Aspara pushing him away from Ginyu's mouth beam, only to take it herself.

Aspara sighed in relief, glad to be back in the right body, before groaning from the pain. "God Damn, you did a number on me Kakarot."

"Well you deserved it." He snapped at her, "Try something like that beam again, and I'll have to kill you." He looked over at Ginyu, concerned, "Thanks for that, you didn't have to take that attack from me, besides, you already look pretty injured." he reached into his bag, "here, I should have something that can help-"

"Grrr, don't bother! I'll take your power for myself! CHANGE NO-" Aspara put the last of her strength into a ki blast she fired from her foot, kicking it at Ginyu's chin fast enough to slam his mouth shut on the beam. 

"What'd I just say?!" Goku said, reaching down and grabbing her shoulder, "Look, you're already out of the fight, if you don't accept that, you're just going to get yourself hurt." He pulled the bean he grabbed from his bag, and held it out to Ginyu. "Eat that, you'll feel better."

"Kakarot you dope!" Vegeta growled, "Unhand my sister!"

"Your sister? Well that explains a few things."

"That purple man, he has the ability to steal people's bodies!" Vegeta said, grabbing Ginyu by his horns. "Feel the texture of his ki! It's the same as when you were fighting my sister's body, right?!"

"I... yeah, it is."

"My sister saved you from getting your body stolen." Vegeta said, glaring at him, "The least you could do is be grateful!"

"Well... to be fair, I was just trying to get my own body back." She said with a smile. Goku's grip on her shoulder lightened, and he smiled at her. Her heart missed a beat. Goku turned away from her to look out over the devastated field. "Vegeta, and, um..."

"Aspara." she answered.

"Aspara." She was surprised at how pleased she was by him saying her name, "Can you two explain things to me? I think I might be a little out of the loop."

She nodded, "Of course. But first, I think we should begin moving our people out of here. We know a healer who can help them. One of yours is over there, I believe." She pointed to where Krillan laid unconscious in his crater, and Goku's expression changed to one of terror.

"Krillan!" he dropped her back in the dirt, and she landed with an audible 'oof!' from her bruises.

Vegeta stood over her, looking at Kakarot in bewilderment, before looking down at her in disapproval. "Making eyes at him like a damn teenager."

"Shut it. He's so powerful, Vegeta!" she hissed, "He can't be an ordinary Low-Class like Raditz, he's already surpassed us. Surpassed us so far... he's the Legendary Super Saiyan. He has to be." she said, absolutely certain in her words.

"Kakarot's too soft to be the Legend! I'm going to be the Legend, for all we know, we're both already Super Saiyans... I thought we surpassed our limits, well, fine, Kakarot surpassed his too, this last month... somehow. He's just pushed harder than we have. We'll surpass him soon enough."

She shook her head, but didn't say anything more to disagree with him.

All she knew was that Kakarot was the most powerful of all Saiyans, an existence who could surpass the strongest Oozaru to ever walk any planet's surface in recorded history. 

Kakarot was perfect, she decided. 

And he would rule by her side.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Power Levels:  
> Krillan: 13,000  
> Gohan: 17,000  
> Okra: 6,000  
> Eenud: 9,000  
> Aspara: 62,000 {620,000 as an Oozaru}  
> Vegeta: 65,000  
> Nail: 42,000  
> Mering: (1,500) 7,000  
> Guldo: 11,000  
> Jeice: 50,000  
> Burter: 55,000  
> Recoome: 65,000  
> Ginyu: 120,000  
> Goku: 90,000 [Kaio Ken x2: 180,000, x3: 270,000, x4:360,000, x5: 450,000 x6: 540,000 x7: 630,000]


	5. Chapter 5

"Krillin, you awake?"

"Oh! Goku, thank god you're here. Everything's gone crazy."

"Heh, I can tell."

"Was that a senzu bean?"

"Yep. Don't have many left... so, can you tell me which of these guys are on our side? They're all wearing the same armor."

"Uh, sure." Krillin got up, surprised at his own strength, now. Maybe the power the Guru unlocked was still growing? He felt that he could take out members of the Ginyu Force without a problem, now. "How many beans have you got left?"

"Not many." Goku admitted, "I went through some serious training. The ship Doctor Briefs built could go up to 100 times Earth gravity! I could do a Kaio-Ken times twenty, now!"

"I bet, if you beat the guys who knocked me out." He looked out over the devastated field, "It's like the fight with Vegeta all over again."

"More than you knew. I fought the Giant Ape again. Though Vegeta's sister is something like, three times stronger than Vegeta was on Earth... so is Vegeta, now that I'm sensing him out."

"Why'd you fight Aspara? She's on our side."

"The purple guy can switch bodies with people." Goku said, "Apparently. He switched with Aspara, and then he tried to switch with me, but Aspara got back in her own body instead."

"Huh. Glad I was asleep for that then."

Goku merely smiled, "Where's Gohan? If he needs a senzu bean, I should get it to him first."

"He's out looking for the last Dragon Ball." Krillin assured, "He should be perfectly safe."

"And Bulma?"

"She's either helping him, or staying in a nice, safe, cave somewhere away from all this fighting."

"Good." 

Krillin floated over to Eenud, grabbing him and opening his mouth so that Goku could drop Senzu bean down his throat, when Vegeta snatched it from Goku's hand, swallowing it himself. The Saiyan grinned savagely as his power jumped forward by leagues. "Hahahaha!" 

"Vegeta!"

"The last one, give it to my sister."

"But the others-"

"Are in less serious condition. I admit, it was impressive what you did to Ginyu while he was in control of her body, but are you forgetting that you're leaving her in that crater?! Besides, if you care so much about this cannon fodder, we have another healer."

Goku narrowed his eyes, but he flew over to give the last senzu bean to Aspara. As she got up, she sucked in a surprised breath as her ki reserves exploded, the zenkai larger than any one previous. "Vegeta..."

"I know. I told you, Aspara. Kakarot's not the Super Saiyan. That last zenkai boost pushed us over the edge... we've surpassed Freeza, and I don't feel like stopping."

"Come on." Goku shouted, "We can talk on the way over to your healer!"

"What are you doing with that trash?" Vegeta asked, outraged as Goku piled every alien he could see into a big pile, and lifting them precariously from the bottom. 

"Well, I'm not just leaving them. Is this healer guy fast?"

"No, not that, I mean, why are you taking the Ginyu Force?!"

"I can't tell which ones of these guys are evil. They're all unconscious."

"Then ask the bald one!"

"I'm not leaving behind the others. They'll die?"

"So?!" Vegeta glared at Aspara, "See, soft! He even let me live, back on Earth. He's absolutely unable to finish off his enemies!"

She frowned, looking between her brother and Goku. "I'll help you. A few of those are my men."

"Don't tell me you're just going to go along with this 'mercy' idiocy!" Vegeta complained.

"I'm not leaving soldiers loyal to me behind just cause' they're injured. Especially since for once they have been acting loyal. They deserve one or two favors."

"And the Ginyu Force?"

"Utterly insignificant to us after our respective zenkai... but still far more powerful than the average being."

"And?"

"They're good soldiers. Elite soldiers. We'll see if they're willing to join the Aspara Squadron."

"You crafty-" Vegeta frowned, before looking to Ginyu. "And the purple wonder himself?"

"There must be some reason he hasn't taken over Freeza's body." She said with a shrug, "We're both stronger than Freeza now. So if he feld threatened into submission by him, he'll feel the same about us. And he's the most powerful of them, so he'd be the most useful as a servant."

"Whatever the reason, come on." Goku said impatiently. "If we each carry a few of them, that should be fine, right Krillin?"

"Yeah." He grabbed Mering and Eenud, while Goku grabbed Ginyu and Burter.

Aspara picked up Okra and Jeice, leaving Vegeta with Nail and "God damn Guldo." Vegeta muttered, "Those psychic powers were next to useless, how'd he ever get a position on the Ginyu Force?"

"You mean how was he chosen over you?"

"Grrr..."

* * *

 Freeza's scouter exploded, and the Arcosian, barely thinking, picked up another and placed it over his ear, staring dead ahead. 

The scouters were notoriously flimsy devices, he knew that to be true. They were prone to false read-outs, overestimating more often than not. And a Power Level measured the level of ki output a being was capable of putting out. Not skill, not intent to kill, not level of experience, or even the ability to weaponize that ki. 

But it was safe to say that if two scouters showed the same reading, it was accurate. 

Aspara's Oozaru form was 620,000. That alone was proof enough the Saiyans had to exterminated from the galaxy. But now... in her base form she was over 800,000?! And Vegeta was nearly as high at 750,000! In the form he was in now... he was outclassed. 

That third signature, the one that just jumped up and up, that had appeared in the middle of the fight... it was somehow more terrifying than both those numbers put together. And he had heard it said over the Ginyu Force's scouters before they were destroyed: "My name is Son Goku. And I'm a Saiyan from Earth."

If they used their Oozaru forms, they could possibly overwhelm him. Even at his full strength... Aspara was the only one with a tail, but all the same, Saiyans were notorious for growing back their tails quickly. It didn't happen much as adults, but there was a chance.

He couldn't allow that to happen, he decided. He turned off all the scouters that remained in the case, and closed it. Then, he flew away from the ship, at full speed,  until he could no longer see it. It wouldn't do for it to get destroyed in the wake of his transformations, now would it?

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!" He screamed out to the heavens, his body bulking and twisting. His horns extended and grew, curving upward. His chest became comically huge, but his body soon caught up, until he was a white monolith of muscle and power. "Hah! Hah! Hah!" He panted, curling his fingers and twitching, testing his muscles. It had been... many years, since he was forced to use this form in battle.

It was time to put down these monkeys, and finish the job he had started twenty-five years ago with the destruction of planet Vegeta.

* * *

"Takkarapto Popporunga Pupiritto Paro!!!" Dende chanted. The Dragon Balls began to glow, and Dende, Gohan, and Bulma watched with anticipation as a grand spiral of light flew up into the sky. 

Soon enough, a great, massive, green dragon appeared. More monstrous and much larger than the Shenlong they had known on Earth. "Whoah." Bulma commented, watching at it opened its eyes like glowing red coals. 

"He's called Porunga here, the God of Dreams." Dende said, awe filling his voice, "I never saw him before."

"Well, I can definitely see how such a big guy has three wishes in him, rather than just the one." Bulma said.

"<OH MASTER OF THE DRAGON BALLS, STATE YOUR WILL. I SHALL GRANT ANY THREE WISHES WITHIN MY POWER.>"

Gohan nodded, "Dende, our first wish is to bring my mentor, the Namekian called Piccolo, back to life!"

"I got it. <Great Porunga, resurrect this earthling's mentor, the Namekian known as Piccolo!>"

"<IT IS DONE.>" Porunga said after a time. "<STATE YOUR NEXT WISH.>"

* * *

 "The sky?" Freeza asked nobody, "That can't be... the sky going dark? On a planet with three suns? The Dragon Balls!" Freeza tensed with rage, before kicking off the ground, destroying the entire island he was standing on in the process, and flying at top speed towards where the scouters had told him earlier another powerful member of his enemy's group was waiting. 

"I won't let you take away my chance at immortality! I've lost too much on this damnable world to lose this too! Rrrrgggghhhh! KSSHHH! RAAAAAHHHHH!!!" his second transformation began even mid-flight, his ki exploding outwards as he propelled himself faster and faster.

* * *

Goku Krillin and Vegeta froze, staring in horror behind them. "What's wrong?" Aspara asked, but she could guess. Beside the Ginyu force, there was only one thing on the planet that could be called their enemy. Or strong enough to make Vegeta look scared. 

"It's... It's Freeza." Vegeta said. "He's nearly four times more powerful than he was!" 

"And he's coming this way!" Goku swore. 

Aspara frowned, "Should I make a Power Ball?"

"I don't think-" Vegeta began, before staring as a bright purple shooting star flew over them in an instant, heading in the same direction they were, like a grim harbinger. "-We'll have the chance! Dump the dead weight and gun it!" Vegeta growled. 

Goku was about to object, but seeing even Krillin willing to set down the injured aliens without a second though, he said nothing more, setting down his own wounded and flying at full speed after the already-fading ki trail of the most powerful being he had ever sensed.

* * *

 

"He wanted his tail to grow back." Gohan explained.

"Will that really be that useful? I mean, sure, Goku was scary when he turned into a Giant Ape, but-" she shivered, feeling the oppressive force reverberating through the atmosphere. "What... what the hell was that?"

"That was... Freeza..." Gohan said, "Dende, the next wish, hurry!"

"Uh, yes! <Oh, Great Poporunga, would you- Lord Guru?!>" Dende cried, looking away from the Dragon and towards the Guru, who was breathing hard and fast, clutching at his chest. 

"<That ki... I... it was too much for me... I...>" Guru coughed, the oppressive ki of Freeza only becoming stronger the closer it came. Even Bulma, barely able to sense ki to begin with, felt the malice pressing on her. "<I don't have much time.>"

"The Guru said he doesn't have much time..." Dende said, his voice nearly cracking. 

"Then we need to make the wish now!" Bulma shouted, "I'm sorry, but we need to do this! We won't have time for anything else! If Vegeta needs his tail to fight, then just-" her voice faded away as she looked up at the disturbing new shape of Lord Freeza, his head elongated, his horns having turned white and doubled, his shoulders increasing in size to mimic the armor all his soldiers wore. 

"Hello." Freeza said, the others before him absolutely silent. 

He touched down on the ground, his tail slowly waving from side to side as he walked forwards, looking at the Namekian Dragon. The only sound in the clearing was the wind, and the heavy pained breathing of Guru.

"<STATE YOUR SECOND WISH.>" Porunga demanded, impatient, spooking Dende Gohan and Bulma.

"Dende!" Bulma hissed quietly, "Make the wish!"

"Ah, ah, ah." Freeza was suddenly behind them, his red eyes drifting between the two of them, "No. Whatever paltry thing you were going to wish for, forget it. And grant mine."

Gohan gulped, but didn't say anything. Dende and Bulma looked to each other, wisely stepping back, as well as away from each other. Bulma went as far as dropping her arm cannon and kicking it away, under Freeza's watchful eye. 

"What... what wish?" Dende asked, "The wishes need to be spoken in the sacred Namek tongue." 

"You had better not be making that up." Freeza said, "As it sounds very convenient for you."

"I am sorry... but that is the only language the God of Dreams knows."

"Make me a god. Now. I want immortality."

"I..." Dende looked to the Elder, begging with his eyes for guidance. 

"Dende..." the Guru said, "...Cannot make your wish."

"Why ever not?" Freeza asked, deeply annoyed. 

"The Dragon God cannot... complete a task beyond... the spiritual power of its creator. I am not even the true Kami of this world... The Dragon Balls can grant many things... but godhood...? That... has to be earned... or you must be born with it..."

"You're lying! The Dragon Balls grant immortality!"

"That... is not... godhood..." Guru breathed, coughing. Dende made to walk over and heal him once more, but Freeza's glare froze the child in place. 

"I don't care!" Freeza roared, "It's what I want, forget Godhood, I'm already indestructible! Just make me unkillable!"

"...<Great God of Dreams, please... make the one known as Freeza->"

"Dende!" The guru said harshly, shouting "<No! Dende, think of the... think... I am sorry my son.>" the Guru looked away, coughing hard.

"Ignore the geezer." Freeza said with a snarl, "Continue."

"<Make the one known as Freeza imm->" but he didn't get to finish, the Dragon's eyes dulling, and then his body disappearing. The Dragon Balls lost their glow, becoming simple round stones.

"What happened?" Freeza demanded, "Am I immortal?"

"No..." Dende said, tears streaming down his face, "You're not."

"Then what did you wish for you miserable creature?! I hope it was worth it, it'll be your only comfort when I vaporize this filthy planet!"

"He didn't finish saying the wish before..." Gohan said, his voice sad. Freeza followed his gaze, only now noticing that the Grand Elder's rough breathing was quiet. 

"You... you blasted! Damnable! You! You, I, erggghh!!!" his aura rose even higher, the energy coiling around him, "You cost me my wish! You stole my immortality!" he screamed, his rage aimed at Guru's corpse. 

"Dende." Gohan said quietly. "I want you to fly away when I give the signal. Grab Bulma, hide, and then try to find my Dad's spaceship. Or Freeza's or one of the pods or something..." 

"What about you?" Dende whispered back. 

"I'm going to... I'm going to hold him back."

"You'll die!"

"Just get away!" Gohan shouted. 

Freeza turned his attention to Gohan, his face filled with fury. "Saiyan." Freeza said, his voice like ice. 

Gohan ignited his aura and shot forward, screaming and trying his best to connect with that power he had occasionally called upon when facing Nappa and Raditz, only months ago. Perhaps the Guru had brought it all out, and Gohan was already at maximum power, but he needed every advantage he could get.

"Come and fight me!" Gohan shouted, flying straight for Freeza, everything about his stance screaming that he would go for a tackle, before he jinked to the side, flying past Freeza's shoulder and away from Dende and Bulma. Freeza turned his head to follow Gohan, before rising into the air.

"Foolish monkey spawn." Freeza said, vanishing from Bulma and Dende's perspective, merely leaving behind a burst of air as he zoomed after Gohan. 

"Gohan... he'll..." Bulma began, cupping her hand over her mouth in worry, "Oh God, what will Chi Chi say?"

"Come on!" Dende shouted, grabbing her hand and floating away, tears still running freely down his face, "We need to run!"

"Brat!" Freeza greeted, suddenly behind Gohan. Gohan couldn't react in time, slamming face-first into Freeza's chest and bouncing away. But he didn't let it get to him, and he began to fly again immediately, simply carrying on in the direction that Freeza had thrown him. 

Freeza smiled evilly, enjoying this game. He moved in an instant in front of Gohan, and watched with amusement as the boy changed direction once more, actually kicking off Freeza as if he were a wall. "Spry little thing you are." He commented. "But exactly how, spry?" he raised two index fingers, "Atatatata!" tiny sparks of red ki flew from his fingers, peppering the ground with massive explosions. Gohan skirted the edges of one blast after another, before seeing hope on the horizon. 

"KAIO KEN TIMES THIRTEEN!" Goku screamed, his red aura a massive flare on the edge of their vision. 

Freeza looked up at the red light, and then swore as it was utterly overshadowed by blue. A truly massive Kamehameha wave sprung from Goku, turning everything within sight bright blue with its light, before colliding with Freeza in a burst that blew Gohan hundreds of meters away. He was kept from hitting the ground by Krillin, who caught him with a pained smile. "Good to see you, Gohan."

"Good to see you too Krillin!" Gohan said, throwing his arms around the shorty, tearing up. He had thought he was going to die!

"Where the hell is my tail?!" Vegeta shouted as he joined the two of them, annoyed at the sentimentality. 

"And am I immortal?" Aspara shouted as well, landing near Gohan. 

"We- Freeza got to us before we could make any more wishes, we barely got the first one before he appeared!"

"Damn." Vegeta muttered. 

"Is Freeza immortal?" Aspara asked.

"No. Elder Guru died before Freeza could make Dende grant his wish."

"Well, thank the gods for small blessings." Vegeta said, watching as Freeza tried to fight back against the wave of power. "Where's the healer? Still alive?"

"Yeah, I distracted Freeza to let them get away." Gohan said. 

"Go find him, and look for weak energy signatures in that direction." Freeza ordered, pointing behind them.

"Is... Is that really my dad up there?"

Vegeta smirked, "He's gotten powerful, but then again, so did I. Moreso than you would imagine. Don't worry about Freeza, we're going to make quick work out of him! Aspara!"

"I don't need you to tell me." she said, "Twice in one day, must be losing my touch. Power Ball!" She yelled, creating the orb. Soon enough, she began to grow larger and larger, fur covering her body for the second time that day. 

Gohan took the chance to begin flying away. "Go get him, Dad." Gohan said quietly. 

* * *

 "Wha- No!" Freeza shouted at the sight of the Giant Ape, destroying the Kamehameha wave in front of him with a ki-covered axe kick. He rocketed forward, only to feel Vegeta colliding with him from his blind spot, foot burying itself in his side. Freeza was sent off-course, crashing into the sea and colliding with the seabed below. 

Goku touched down, breathing hard as the red aura around him wavered, "Better, hah, drop it a little lower until I need it that high again." 

Vegeta and Krillin joined Goku where he stood, overlooking the water. "So, dwarf, that attack that nearly beheaded Nappa back on earth, how do you do it again?"

"The Destructo Disc? The kienzan?" Krillin asked, holding out his hand and building ki into a spinning disc. 

Vegeta frowned, his eyebrows knitting his eyebrows together in concentration, holding his hand in the same way. Soon enough, a violet-blue version of Krillin's own yellow ki buzz saw, maybe slightly larger, was created, screeching as it spun. "I'll commend you on your ingenuity, Earthlings. What you lack in power, you make up with useful and unique techniques."

"I'll take the compliment." Krillin said wryly. "You gonna try Goku?"

"I've never been good at shaping my ki like that." he said, slamming his knuckles together. He turned to look behind him as the earth rumbled, Aspara simply striding over to join them. 

"Observe true power, boys." She said proudly, her voice morphed by the transformation. She looked down at Goku, smirking, before she threw her arms forward, cupping them and releasing a massive beam of green destruction. The energy wave crashed deep into the sea, digging into the seabed, before arcing back up into the air, flying off into space. "Galick Gun!"

Goku whistled, impressed, so she decided to show off a little, charging two spheres of ki in each hand and forcing them together into an unstable and vibrating ball of light. "Burst!" She commanded, whipping the writhing ball of energy in the direction of the steaming laceration in the ocean. As the blast erupted into a great explosion, she smiled. "Now you see the power of a Saiyan elite Freeza, the last thing you ever saw!"

"Oh please! Writing me off as dead so quickly, Captain?" All four of their heads turned in surprise, looking at Freeza, dripping wet, a distance away. "You Saiyans are quite proud of your transformations, aren't you? I'm proud of my own as well." he raised a finger, and a tiny glowing red orb appeared over it. "But the two can't really be compared beyond that. You Saiyans transform for a substantial increase in power. I transformed in order to contain my great power. Even now, you aren't worth releasing all of it. You mongrels don't deserve it. The shape I'm in currently isn't even my final form! This meager display you're having such trouble with isn't even two percent of what I'm really capable of." he said, his voice dripping with hatred, but still managing to smile at their reactions to him explaining his true ability, "But even more than that... our transformations have an even deeper difference. I choose to suppress my power, and to release it, as I deem appropriate... but you Saiyans need the full moon." 

"And?" Aspara said, unimpressed. "That means all I need to do is kill you before you release the rest of this supposed ninety-eight percent of your power!" She flew forwards at incredible speeds, speeds Freeza couldn't match in his own current form.

His smile turned downright gleeful as he flicked his finger. The tiny red orb raced forward, and missed Aspara completely. She was about to laugh, when Vegeta shouted a word of warning. Turning her head, she stared in horror at Freeza's real target, the Power Ball she had created. 

Goku swore, his aura jumping back up to its previous amount as he dashed after the tiny ki sphere, but there wasn't any chance of stopping it.

Aspara turned her attention back to Freeza, pushing more of her energy into speed, trying to hit him before his miniature Death Ball destroyed her miniature moon. Just as her fist wrapped around his body, and began to crush, she felt the loss of her Power Ball. She began to shrink, but she made the most of it, putting out enough energy for a second Galick Gun from her closed fist in an attempt to incinerate the Arcosian. 

For a moment, she thought she had succeeded before a three-fingered foot shot from the smoke around her arm, grabbing her head and throwing her into the stone below. Freeza stood on top of her head, before leaping off in a graceful somersault, landing back on the ground. "Now, now, what else did Saiyan transformations need, besides the moon... I always forget..." he said innocently, before jutting his hand towards her, a wave of ki with a sharp edge cleanly removing half her tail. 

"Gyaaahhh!!" She screamed, getting back up and throwing a savage punch to Freeza's face. The Arcosian took it, and coughed up a bit of blood, but retaliated just as quickly, striking her forehead with a finger-strike. She recoiled, grabbing her bleeding forehead, when Freeza pressed his advantage, kicking and punching furiously, knocking her about like a practice dummy. 

"Aspara!" Vegeta shouted, throwing himself at the action, his kienzan at the ready.

Goku glanced at Krillin, before smiling and powering up even more. "Kaio Ken times fifteen!" He jumped back into the fray as well. With Vegeta and Goku furiously pummeling Freeza's back, he let up on the female Saiyan, grabbing her around the waist with his tail as he shifted his focus back to the two other Saiyans. 

"Kienzan!" Vegeta shouted, swinging his fist, and the disc, into Freeza's tail. The Arcosian screamed from the pain, and leaped backwards, putting distance between himself and the two of them. 

Aspara coughed harshly, grumbling as she pulled herself free from Freeza's tail. Then, considering it, she raised it to her mouth and took a bite. 

Freeza seemed genuinely surprised as she did so, before that new emotion simply fed back into rage, "I AM NOT FOOD!" he shouted, insulted. 

"Yeah." She said, frowning, "You aren't." she spit out the chunk she had bitten off and shifted stances, but was still wobbly on her feet from the pummeling Freeza had just given her. 

"Grrgh, curse you Saiyans!" Freeza said, before throwing both hands out and releasing two red energy waves, scorching long grooves into the ground, the three Saiyans dodging away, he would have sent another ki attack their way, but his attention was forced to deal with the second ki disc nearly beheading him. He dodged it once more as the thing swung around like a boomarang, trying to get a second slash on him. 

"There's not just Saiyans here, you know!" Krillin said, creating two more kienzan, he dished them out, and then devoted his concentration to controlling them. Soon the space around Freeza was a butcher shop, whirring death cycling around him. 

"Weaklings, not knowing their place!" Freeza said dismissively, before using a kiai to push away the discs long enough to fire a blast at Krillin. The small earthling gasped in pain as the red beam pierced his chest, causing an explosion in the ground behind, throwing up a dust cloud. 

"KRILLIN!" Goku screamed, barreling into Freeza. Krillin's kienzans went far off-course, before fading away. 

Freeza and Goku tusseled for a few seconds, before Freeza managed to slap Goku with what was left of his tail, and fire a blast of red ki into the man's chest. Goku spit up blood as he clutched at his scorched chest, backing away from Freeza slowly. The red steaming aura of the Kaio Ken was fading fast, and if it left, Goku wasn't sure he'd be able to pull it back. "Darn it..." Goku muttered, "He's just too strong..." 

Vegeta saw this as his opportunity, taking advantage of Freeza's temporary fixation on Goku to begin charging his own energy wave. "GALICK GUN!" he screamed, alerting Freeza at the last moment. The Arcosian however, simply smirked, jumping forward and grabbing Goku, before tossing him back into the path of the beam. 

"NO!" Aspara shouted, using an eruption of ki to behind her to fling herself towards Goku, she managed to knock Goku and herself out of the way before the purple beam struck the ground, obliterating everything around it. The shockwave of the beam was enough to have both of the injured Saiyans tossing and swaying in the winds, unconscious. 

Vegeta looked at the pockmarked battlefield around him. The only beings still standing being him, and Freeza. The tyrant was bleeding, missing his tail, cut and bruised. A younger Vegeta would have given his own tail right then and there, to see this sight. He began to laugh, curling his fingers into fists. "Well, well, well. Just you and me, 'Lord' Freeza."

"What's so funny monkey? I can kill you with a thought." Freeza said, smirking. "Although I do admit, your lot put up much more of a fight than I ever thought possible."

"You were right to fear the Saiyans." Vegeta said, "I'm sure you can tell, can't you? All three of us, we're stronger than any Saiyan of the past! We've ascended. We've entered the Legend!"

"You're no Super Saiyan, Vegeta." Freeza said simply. 

"You're lying Freeza. You're afraid, we already pushed you into that form. And now, I, the last one standing, will take the kill for myself. Nothing could be more fitting! You had to dodge that last Galick Gun, didn't you? I'm growing more powerful by the second!"

"Hahahaha!" Freeza laughed, "It's all so pathetic, isn't it? That your delusions led you to this point, that mine led me to this..." Freeza suddenly looked content, "It's been a long time since I've used my full power, Vegeta. At this point, I think we've known each other long enough that you've earned this. I'll show you true despair, before I allow you to die!"

"Just try it, Freeza!" Vegeta shouted, creating a kienzan in each hand. Freeza flinched at the sight of them, but began to grit his teeth, power rolling off of him. 

Vegeta knew that this was his moment, that if he struck now, mid-transformation, he could put an end to it all...

But he needed to see it. 

He needed to beat Freeza at his best. 

His Saiyan Blood would accept nothing else, after such a fight. 

* * *

 

"That's the last one, then." Gohan said, loading Eenud onto the Capsule Plane. Laid out on the floor of the larger plane were all of the less-trustworthy members of their group; namely, anyone who wasn't Bulma wearing Freeza Force armor. 

Bulma paced back and forth, while Dende sat in the copilot's seat, huddled in a ball, still mourning the death of the Grand Elder. Nail was staring at nothing in particular, resentment, fury, and sadness competing for dominance on his face. 

"Hey, Dende?" Gohan asked hesitantly. "Should we heal them here, or should we try to get them to one of the two villages first?"

"I want to see Elder Moori and Cargo." Dende said quietly. 

"Sure thing, Dende." Bulma said kindly, getting into the pilot seat across from him and starting the engine. 

"We should see Elder Tsuno." Nail said, the first thing he had said out loud since Dende spoke of the Grand Elder's death. "He is the leader of our people now."

Bulma frowned at him, "We're going to see Elder Moori." She said, not brooking any disagreement. Her current top priority was seeing Dende smile again. 

"...Fine." he said, following her gaze to Dende. All the Namekians loved Guru, but he supposed it must be the hardest for the youngest of them, to lose their father. 

They flew in silence for a time, before Bulma gave in to curiosity, "So... how is the battle going?"

"Freeza's just been getting more and more powerful." Gohan said. "Dad will probably die again." Both Namekians flinched, and Gohan looked apologetic, before grinning weakly, "If it's any consolation... we got our first wish. Mister Piccolo came back to life. If Freeza kills us all, they'll probably wish us all back to life with the Dragon Balls on Earth."

"The Dragon Balls don't restore those who died a natural death." Nail said simply, "Or at least, ours don't. The Guru was ancient..."

"Ours don't either, but there's still a chance, isn't there?" Gohan said hopefully. "I wonder what it's like. I... didn't really ask him about it. All he did was talk about the training he got over there."

"Okay, I'm putting a stop to this right now. Enough being grim on this plane! Look, Gohan, you said Goku was still alive... what about Krillin, and the two Saiyans?"

"They're all in really bad condition, but still alive, except Vegeta."

"He's dead?"

"No, he's not even tired."

"So the battle is still going." She said, looking out the window. In the distance, clouds began to form into an angry storm, pulled there by Freeza's ki. 

"Yeah."

"..." Nail and Dende looked to each other, their faces becoming determined. "I'm going out there." Nail said.

"Me too." Dende added.

"What?!" both humans shouted, "You'll just get yourselves killed!" Bulma cautioned. 

"I need to avenge the Guru." Nail said, his voice hard. 

"And you Dende?" Gohan asked. 

"I can help. I... when Freeza told me to make him immortal, I almost did it. I almost ruined everything! And then the Grand Elder gave up, and died, just so that I wouldn't! I need... I need to help. Do everything I can."

Nail shook his head, "The Elder would never have blamed you Dende."

"I know. But I blame me."

Gohan smiled a little, "Alright. Let's go try and save my Dad. I'm going with you!" 

Bulma was angry now. "You're kids! Nail, I don't give a crap if you need to get yourself killed for your machismo or whatever, but Gohan, Dende, you're sticking with me, and we're riding the rest of this out in as much safety as we can find! Remember, we're going to go to the villages, and then bring them to the ships? Saving lives!?"

"You can do that on your own, Bulma." Gohan said. "Though... I wouldn't wear that armor when you go out to meet with them."

"No! Damn it, I-" but Gohan opened the door, and the three of them were gone in an instant. "...Darn it, when we get back to Earth, I'm going to go to Chi Chi and have you grounded until you're fifty!" 

* * *

 

"How do you like it?" Freeza was once more pristine, his tail regrown, his bio-gems without cracks, not a burn, scratch, or bruise touched his white skin. 

"It's a little underwhelming, considering that monstrosity you were looking like earlier." Vegeta said with a smirk. 

"Ohoho, how little you know. This is my true form, Vegeta. The body I was born with. The pinnacle of perfection."

"I can sense Ki, Freeza, even without a scouter. You're stronger than you were before, sure, but not by too much."

"I'm still only using a percentage of my power, I do like to draw things out. But I have to wonder, what plan do you have, Vegeta? Those cute little spinning plates? You're relying on a mere technique to save you from overwhelming power?"

"One of those plates lopped your tail off."

"Indeed. Something that will not happen again." Freeza began to rise into the air, "Because I've already deduced the weakness of these discs, Vegeta."

Vegeta's confidence was ebbing, slightly, but he chose to ignore it. If a simpleminded earthling could create and manipulate four, Vegeta would be able to do so many times over! Freeza could be harmed by the disc as if he had barely any ki at all, he had needed to blow away Krillin's trap. But with Vegeta's power, there would be no stopping him. He would finish the job, here and now! "KIENZAN!" Vegeta cried, tossing one after another violet ki disc into the air. They flew straight ahead, aiming for Freeza, who simply side-stepped them. His speed enough that the discs were simply passing through after-images. Vegeta's arms tensed as he pulled at his swarm of death, sending the discs flying in multiple directions, converging them on where he thought Freeza was, and then sending them off to hunt the tyrant all over again. But nothing was hitting. 

"You'd be better off with hitting me with an actual frisbee." Freeza whispered in his ear. Vegeta flinched, jumping away, but Freeza was already gone. Vegeta's eyes desperately scanned the devastated field for signs of the Arcosian, but he only caught flickers here and there. With his loss of control, the kienzan began to lose direction, drifting away and fading, or colliding with each other and exploding. 

"This can't have been your only plan, could it?" Freeza taunted, building up a Death Ball. The globe of red and orange ki slowly grew larger and larger, suspended over his finger tip, "Honestly Vegeta, this is disappointing. Twenty-five years we've worked together, and all it culminates is you stealing a technique from a lesser race you were too weak to exterminate. I may have lost out on immortality, but I suppose seeing you humiliated, and the end of your race, is a consolation!" 

"MASENKO!" Freeza darted his head around to look behind him, at the source of the voice, before realizing he was looking at the brat he had been chasing earlier. But his attention was then taken up by his own Death Ball having become destabilized. Fleeing from the eruption of ki, he winced at the impact. The explosion was utterly enormous, the entire battlefield, the nearby inland sea, the clouds in the sky, were wiped away in a flare of light. 

He looked around, but there was no trace of Vegeta or the brat. Only a grand, planet-scarring, crater, ever so slowly beginning to fill from the nearby oceans. 

He had finally won, the child unexpectedly detonating his attack early regardless. 

Taking a deep breath, he began to float off toward his ship, about ready to put all of this behind him permanently. He had lost far too much on Namek. It would take him decades to put together a team of elites that worked as well as the Ginyu Force, he had lost his only chance at immortality, and he had, worst of all, lost his dignity. If his father could see him now, resorting to his pristine final Form to exterminate a few meager Saiyans... well, he might as well practically gift-wrapped his title of "Crown Prince" and hand it to Cooler personally. 

He didn't get very far, however, before an impossible voice called out to him. 

"Freeza!" Goku shouted, unharmed, the wounds on his chest missing, as well as the rest of the damage from their battle. Out of the smoke then rose Aspara, and finally Vegeta. 

Freeza's breath hitched as he saw them unharmed, not understanding, not comprehending. It was only when he glimpsed at the edge of the crater, a green figure carrying the mostly-charred body of an earthling to a child Namekian- and suddenly the earthling wasn't charred in the slightest. The Saiyan brat was there as well, glaring defiantly at Freeza, his stance one of protection, standing in front of the Namekian child. 

"You damn Saiyans are far too tenacious for your own goods." Freeza threatened. 

"You're done for now." Vegeta taunted back.

"Together!" Goku said, cupping his hands. 

Vegeta and Aspara smiled at each other, before shifting into the same stance, cupping their hands themselves. 

"KAAAA MEEEE, HAAAAA MEEEEEE-"

"GAAAALIIIICK-"

"HAAAAAAAAAAAA/GUUUUUUUUUN!!!"

Violet, blue, and green beams of destructive energy burst from their hands, spinning around and through each other, becoming a truly massive blast of pure white, enveloping Freeza. 

"There!" Vegeta screamed triumphantly as the last of the combined energy wave flickered away, "That's the fury of the Saiyan race! The fury, of the Super Saiyan-" a red beam pierced through the dust cloud left behind, and then through Vegeta's heart. 

"V-Vegeta!" Aspara called, grabbing his body as he began to fall. She then jinked, dragging Vegeta with her, as two more beams sailed from the dust cloud, just barely dodging both, "Dende!" Aspara shouted. "He needs healing fast!"

"Asp... aspara..." Vegeta groaned "You're... the last... of our blood... keep your pride... sister..." 

"Shut it." She commanded, Gohan and Nail took off from the ground, arms open. She let Vegeta drop into their waiting hands, trusting them to ferry her brother to Dende, before turning around and deflecting another Death Beam, and another. "Kakarot, kill him!" Aspara shouted. 

Goku, now properly angry, dashed into the cloud, doing a kiai to blow away the dust, revealing an unharmed Freeza, "Take this!" Goku said, kicking Freeza hard in the ribs and knocking the Arcosian from the sky back towards the crater below, but Freeza turned along the way, speeding across the surface of the crater, aiming for the two Namekians, Krillin, Gohan, Vegeta, and Aspara. 

"Goodbye." Freeza promised, one hand cradling his ribs, before releasing a grand wave of destructive energy in their direction from the other. 

"No!" Aspara planted her feet in the ground in its path, "Get Vegeta behind me!" The wave hit, and she pushed as much as she could against it, trying to deflect it, channel it in some direction, any direction, except directly behind her. 

When the attack ended, her skin was tingling from the sheer amount of energy still in the air, her aura wavering. She fell to her knees, breathing out relief, before looking up, into the smug-looking visage of Freeza. He was standing a few feet in front of her, looking dead ahead, at some point behind her. 

She stumbled getting up, but she turned to see what had happened for herself. She saw Vegeta's smoking corpse, and that of the two Namekians, Krillin, and-

" _ **GOHAN!**_ " 

Goku's mournful, rage-filled scream filled the crater. 

* * *

 

"Gohan..." Piccolo said, "You're sure?" 

"You're free to go to the Check-In Station on the other end of Snake Way if you don't believe me, see him yourself." King Kai said. 

"Come on, King Kai. Gohan and Krillin just died, be more sensitive." Yamcha tried, attempting to put a comforting hand on Piccolo's shoulder before getting shrugged off. 

"You're all dead!" King Kai shouted, "It's not a big deal, especially because of the Dragon Balls. Speaking of, Kami, how we doing?"

[We're doing quite well. Mister Popo has gathered the last of the Dragon Balls. Are we ready to make our wish?] Kami replied through King Kai's telepathy.

"Mmm, not sure. Things aren't going well on Namek. Can you figure out a wording that'll bring back the Namekians Freeza's other soldiers killed, along with Gohan and Krillin?"

[Well, Krillin won't come back from these Dragon Balls, unfortunately. Neither will Chiaotzu. They've both been wished back before] Kami said.

"However it turns out, exclude me from the wish." Tien said.

"Tien!" Chiaotzu said, "It's not fair to you if you have to stay dead just cause I have to!"

"I'm fine with it." Tien said, "It was my fault for pushing myself too far past my limit. I died, it happens. We weren't going to live forever anyway, and it's not like it's much of a difference to how life was before." 

"Less mountains maybe... thanks Tien."

"The Namekian Dragon Balls won't be gone forever." King Kai said, "Another Namekian besides the Elder will be able to restore the Dragon Balls, and we'll wish you back to life in due time. For now... we just have to wait for Freeza to leave Namek, before we bring everyone back to life, or else he'll just kill them again... wait, what is Goku doing?"

* * *

"Oh, that was _your_ brat, wasn't it?"

" _ **You... you killed my son...!**_ " Goku managed, absolutely seething with rage. 

Aspara rose from the ground, her own fists clenched, staring at Freeza with a look of pure hatred. "My brother!" she shouted, "How dare you!"

"I'm only cleaning up the trash." Freeza said, smiling at the two remaining Saiyans advancing on him.

" _ **My son... my best friend...**_ " Goku snarled, breathing heavily. 

"I'LL KILL YOU!" Aspara screamed, her hands igniting with ki as she bombarded Freeza. 

"Gragh!" He deflected the first few ki blasts, but the intensity of the strikes was preventing him from doing so unscathed, "Fine! I'll kill you next!" Freeza raised his finger, firing several beams of red death at her. Her only success in avoiding the beams was that she had managed to avoid getting hit anywhere vital. 

"Die!" she shouted once more, charging an unstable-looking ball of ki, Freeza could almost see it pulsing, almost begging to explode. A mere ki-bullet was enough to set it off in her arms, sending her crashing backwards into the glassy wall of the crater, moaning and fighting to get back up. 

Freeza only then noticed that Goku still hadn't done anything else. The man was floating higher and higher into the sky, the winds of the storm that was slowly growing around their fight picking up. Freeza could appreciate the darkening skies, after spending all this time under constant sunlight. Lightning began to touch the ground, briefly coating everything in golden yellow light. 

" _ **You killed them! I'll make you pay... for Gohan... for Krillin... for Vegeta, and every single Namek...**_ "

Aspara, exhausted as she was, found her attention being drawn to Goku- never once had she seen the Saiyan acting like this. Even when fighting Ginyu, Goku had never had such a look of... ruthlessness. She felt the winds growing stronger, lightning striking repeatedly around the edges of the crater, creating huge pillars of light. She and Goku were the last remaining Saiyans, she realized with some pain. She was nearly dead, and if Goku didn't get his head back in the fight soon, she knew he would be as well. The Kaio Ken required focus, didn't it?

" _ **YOU'RE NOT GOING TO GET AWAY WITH THIS! I WON'T LET YOU!**_ "

"Wh-What is this..." Freeza said, staring at the golden aura building around Goku. 

His hair flickered from black to gold, his aura flaming up and pulsing more and more every second, " _ **AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!**_ " the scream rang out across the planet, reverberating Aspara and Freeza to their cores. 

When Goku opened his eyes, they were an emerald green. His hair was golden. His aura was unlike anything either of his observers had ever seen.

"The Legendary Super Saiyan." Aspara said, her voice a tone of awe. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. 

Freeza roared denial, taking to the sky to fight Goku, only to have every one of his attacks expertly blocked. Goku would have been playing with him, if he wasn't so utterly livid. As it was, he would deflect whatever attempt Freeza made to hurt him, and then reply in kind with a devastating kick or a painful punch. 

"Death Beam!" Freeza shouted, using his signature attack, only for Goku to take it without dodging, for a beautiful second, Freeza believed he had won, before Goku simply looked back at him, not fazed in the slightest by a lethal attack. The next moment, Goku was suddenly next to him, and had wrapped his hand around Freeza's wrist and began to squeeze, slowly crushing it. Freeza struggled free, backing away from the new, terrifying, golden Goku. "Wh-What are you! Saiyans only transform in Great Apes!"

"Who am I?" Goku asked, "You haven't figured it out yet? I'm am the hope of the universe. I am the answer to all living things who cry out for peace. I am the light in the darkness. I am the warrior you heard about in Legends, pure of heart and awakened by rage. Ally to good, nightmare to you! _ **I AM THE SUPER SAIYAN; SON GOKU!**_ "

"Pure of hear, huh? No wonder Vegeta could never reach it!" Freeza dashed forward and threw a punch at his face, only to get a knee to his own chin in response. Briefly stunned, Freeza could only float there and take it Goku planted his fists in Freeza dozens of times. Knocked backwards, he put distance between himself and Goku before Goku could pummel him more. "I... so... the legends had some truth to them, after all... the Super Saiyan... damn it all." Freeza looked pained, backing away further and further as Goku came closer. "I, Lord Freeza, losing to a wretch like this?"

"It's over Freeza." Goku said simply, before cupping his hands, preparing to wipe him out with a Kamehameha wave. 

"You'll never kill me!" Freeza growled, growing desperate. "Nothing in the universe can kill me! Nothing short of a black hole should have this kind of power!"

"Too bad." Goku said, "Normally, against someone as strong as you, I'd try my best to find some way of letting them go, to fight me again... but not today. HA!" the destructive wave shot from his hands and caught Freeza against the chest, knocking the Arcosian away from the crater. 

Goku spared a glance for Aspara, who was still simply watching, mystified, before he took off after Freeza, leaving her to rest on the crater wall. 

She looked up into the stormy sky, watching the lightning. 

The Legendary Super Saiyan. Not dead Vegeta. Not her, lying in a crater, waiting to drown. Just Raditz' kid brother. 

And he was nothing like she expected, not a brute, not a mindless killing machine, although she would have tolerated such a being as her mate easily, brutality was the nature of Saiyans... but someone soft, pure of heart, yet still capable of all that rage. He was better than she had ever thought. She would have him, she decided. Truly, not simply for fun, or to continue on the legacy of the Saiyans. But truly, have him. Her mind drifted back to her childhood, those three short, meaningful years before Planet Vegeta exploded. 

Tarble's mother Pars was like that. Gentle, slow to anger, sentimental. Aspara had thought it made her weak, and when King Vegeta killed her, Aspara hadn't mourned... but of the three women who raised her, it was Pars who was there when Aspara was weakest, defending her, shielding her from her father's rage or of Vegeta's brutal training. Pars always seemed weak, but in those moments, Aspara had been thankful for a protector. 

Goku was like that, but he had all the power in the universe behind him. 

She decided he would be the perfect mate. And a good dad. 

* * *

 "Just give up." Goku advised, "And face your death with some dignity."

"Errgghh... fine!" 

"Hm?"

"I'd rather take my own life, than die by the hand of a filthy monkey."

"Do what you want."

"..." Freeza looked down at his hands, considering it for a moment. If his father were here... well, the fight would have certainly turned out quite differently. But if his father could only speak to him, he knew what he would say about Freeza's lack of dignity. "Saiyan, did you know?" He created a Death Ball in a few moments. Goku simply stared at him, the same ruthless cold fury covering his expression. "My kind can survive even the vacuum of space!" Goku's eyes widened as he realized the scope of his plan, "Haah!" Freeza threw the massive orb of destructive energy down towards the planet's core. "Hahahahaha!"

"N-NO!" Goku cried, as light from the truly colossal explosion expanded in every direction, the earth below getting eaten away by the descending Death Ball, and then flat out erased by the resulting explosion. 

Goku quickly blinked the dust from his eyes, staring at a crater unlike anything he had ever seen. It was like someone had taken a gun the size of a moon, and fired a bullet straight down into Namek's core. In the darkness of the pit, he could see, far below, a pulsing red-hot energy. 

"What? The planet didn't vanish? I must have held back too much."

"You're a coward, Freeza. You were too scared of your own blast hurting you!" Goku said harshly, tackling the Arcosian and pelting him with punches, kicks, and stikes of all kinds. 

"It doesn't, ergk! matter! The planet is still doomed! I've detonated the core! This world has minutes! And then, I'll be the living victor, and you'll be a broken chunk of pink ice floating in space, if you aren't vaporized in the collapse of this world!" 

"Then... the planet will just be gone?"

"Of course!" 

Goku screamed, battering the tyrant, [King Kai, change in plans.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Power Levels:  
> (Before Zenkai*)  
> Krillin: (13,000) 75,000  
> Gohan: (17,000) 90,000  
> Okra: 6,000  
> Eenud: 9,000  
> Aspara: (62,000) (800,000) 2,000,000  
> Vegeta: (65,000) (750,000) 2,000,000  
> Nail: (42,000) 60,000  
> Mering: 7,000  
> Guldo: 11,000  
> Jeice: 50,000  
> Burter: 55,000  
> Recoome: 65,000  
> Ginyu: 120,000  
> Goku: (90,000) 3,000,000, SSJ: 150,000,000  
> Freeza: 1F 530,000 2F 1,000,000 3F 2,000,000 FF suppressed 3,000,000 FF 120,000,000  
> *How the heck did Krillin go from a level of 13,000 in canon to 75,000? Was it after he ate the Senzu bean? After he got stabbed by Freeza's horn and then healed by Dende? I thought humans didn't have zenkai.  
> Also, should I continue posting Power Levels? I mean, in a way I'm just making more work for myself here, and the numbers are just going to get more comically large as time continues.


	6. Chapter 6

"Hyaaaah!" Goku shouted, igniting his ki all around him and releasing a devastating explosion towards Freeza, who shrieked as he was thrown against the ground. Goku quickly dropped down and began to beat down on him, but in a way, Freeza had the advantage in hand-to-hand. The Arcosian's greater agility, not to mention his deadly tail, soon evened the odds between them. 

Goku blocked a punch, only to be grabbed by a foot and thrown into the path of a tail-slap. Somersaulting away, Goku breathed deeply as he reached for the ki of the world, building a Spirit Bomb in his hand. He didn't get much time to concentrate, and the Namekian world was quite barren in terms of life forms. In fact, most of the ki that went into the hastily-built bomb was coming from Freeza and himself. As it was, the ball was barely larger than a car before Freeza peppered it with red-hot ki bolts, triggering the explosion to go off early. 

The Arcosian was shocked at the size of the explosion, and didn't get out of range fast enough to not get singed, but was much better off than he would have been if he let it get any larger, or if it landed a direct hit. Freeza watched the slowly-clearing dust cloud, waiting to see whether Goku survived the point-blank explosion. His outfit was even further damaged, but it seemed that the blast only left a few more burns on top of Goku's already bruised torso. 

Goku dashed forward, and Freeza retreated, deflecting any ki bolts Goku sent flying his way. "I mustn't let him keep the offensive." Freeza muttered, knocking away a blast that had come far too close to his eye for his liking. "Super Saiyan!" Freeza shouted. 

"What?!" Goku yelled back, not hesitating as he closed the gap between himself and Freeza. 

"Your mongrel breed is a bloodthirsty sort, aren't you?! Don't you want to face me at my best?!"

"What, do you have another form?"

"No, I'm afraid I don't. Any modification I did to my true form would only decrease my ability." Freeza said, avoiding a swing by Goku, and replying in kind, his own blow more accurate, but not enough to stagger the Saiyan. Freeza could scarcely believe it. It was like he was child again, fighting uselessly against his father! "But as I am now, you're barely seeing seventy percent of my true strength!" At that, Goku looked interested. 

"You're holding back, even now?"

"Not holding back, per se." Freeza grumbled, spitting out blood as Goku gave him a kick he didn't see coming, "It's simply been decades since I've had to resort to this form! My body hasn't yet acclimated to being released in its entirety!"

"Well then..." 

[Nononono!] King Kai's voice shouted into the depths of Goku's rage-filled brain. 

"...Let's see it." Goku said, smirking and backing off, crossing his arms.

[AH ME, DAMN IT!] King Kai screamed.

[Trust me on this King Kai. I can handle him. And if he's fighting me, he won't have a chance to interfere with the wishes!]

[Fine! But don't get carried away!]

* * *

 

[Kami, have you gathered the Balls?!]

"It is done, North Kai." Kami said reverently. "Should I begin the wish?"

[If you've got the right wording, go ahead. Time is of the essence!]

"As you will, North Kai." Kami said, before giving the go-ahead to Mr. Popo. 

"Eternal Dragon! Come forth!" Mr. Popo cried, and the balls began to glow, the massive emerald serpent extending far into the sky. 

"STATE YOUR WISH."

"With the exception of the warrior Tien, return to life every being who was killed by Freeza, Vegeta, Nappa, or anyone else who was working for Freeza! Even those on other worlds!"

"I HAVE NEVER GRANTED A WISH WITH SUCH SCOPE, I AM NOT SURE, BUT I WILL TRY..." Kami and Popo looked to each other nervously, was it asking too much of Shenlong? "IT IS DONE." Shenlong said, after a few moments, his tone showing that he was quite proud of himself, "BUT IF YOU CAN, AFTER SOMETHING SO STRENUOUS... PLEASE GIVE ME A YEAR AND A HALF TO REST. AHH, HOW I MISS THE DAYS WHEN DECADES PASSED BETWEEN WISHES." with that, the balls turned to stone, flying to the corners of the Earth, the sky returning to its previous state of light.

* * *

 "And this, is me at my 100%!" Freeza declared, having bulked up significantly. "You were foolish to allow this, Super Saiyan! It just means you'll die all too soon!" 

"Hmph. We'll see!" the two of them began to furiously attack and defend, every move made by the other was blocked, countered, and returned in a deadly dance. Goku smiled ferociously, enjoying the chance to push himself. But something was keeping him from enjoying it to its max, the niggling of concern in the back of his mind. [I still can't sense Gohan! What's taking them with the Dragon Balls?] 

[The Dragon said the wish was strenuous... but it should be any moment now!]

Soon enough, Goku felt the ki of almost a hundred lives return from nothing. [Gohan! He's, my boy is alive!] Goku froze in place, smiling genuinely, and for a dangerous second, his hair almost turned black as the rage in his heart transformed to relief all at once. Freeza, seeing the distraction, and the momentary lapse in the golden glow, grinned just as much, and renewed his attack, feeling hopeful that he now was the more powerful one. Goku took several hard attacks, before his rage returned enough for him to give his all in fighting Freeza once more. 

[Damn it Goku! You nearly got yourself killed just now!]

[But I'm just so damn happy! Gohan's alive, and, if everything goes right, Chi Chi doesn't have to know he died!]

[It's more than just Gohan and the Namekians...] King Kai said, his voice filled with wonder, [Every... every single person across the galaxy who had been killed by Freeza or his men over the last year, has returned to life!] 

[That's great, King Kai!]

[Oh, Lord Yemma is gonna be pissed, but this is amazing! That wish reversed a year's worth of death reaped by the Arcosian! There are empty worlds once more filled with life!]

The joy in his trainer's voice was enough to give Goku the boost he needed to push the advantage once again on Freeza. [Now, about my plan?]

[It should work.] King Kai said. [I'll contact the one closest to the Namekian Dragon Balls! But, in the meantime?]

[Yeah King Kai?]

[Don't die.]

[Got it!]

[And Goku?]

[Yeah, King Kai?]

[DON'T DO ANYTHING STUPID, EITHER!] The sudden shout was enough to distract Goku once more, and for his trouble he got a full-power deck in the face from Freeza, crashing through a mountain. 

"Ugh, he tells me not to get in trouble, and then he distracts me!" Goku complained, jumping back into the brawl.

* * *

 "What is this?" Guru asked, looking back on the world of the living, all the pains of his failing body returned to him. The sky was dark, and not simply because of Porunga. 

[Lord Guru, I am the North Kai, a deity who runs your section of the galaxy. It is very important that you listen to me.]

"I... of course. How might I help, I am afraid I am not long for this world."

[We just need you to make a wish! Send every living thing on planet Namek except Freeza to the planet known as Earth! Actually, uh, that should be your third wish. For the second wish, Goku had the suggestion.]

"Goku?"

[A warrior from Earth. Right now, he's fighting against Freeza. You've met his son.]

"Then I will gladly make his wish in the little time I have left. What is it?"

* * *

 Gohan's eyes snapped open as he looked out over the truly massive crater before them. The last few minutes came back in a flash, and Gohan shivered. "So... that's what dying feels like."

"Nail! You're alive!" Dende cried, grabbing onto the leg of the larger Namekian. 

"We were wished back with Earth's Dragon Balls! I told you it would work."

"The sky... Dende! The sky!"

"It's dark... the Dragon! The Elder!"

"They brought him back to life." Nail said, unbelieving, tears running down his face. 

"Bwahahaha!" Vegeta cackled, getting up from where he was sitting, "Not even death can stop me!" Vegeta declared, looking over their motley group, and self-consciously feeling the hole in his armor where the Death Beam incinerated his heart. Underneath the hole in the plating was simply flesh, and Vegeta was glad to know that he didn't be stay long in the dreadful place on the other side. 

"Vegeta..." Aspara weakly called. 

The Saiyan prince ran over to her, lifting her up, "What happened? Where's Freeza?" He demanded. 

"He's... fighting Kakarot."

"Kakarot, you mean my Dad?" Gohan asked, shocked, "All by himself! We need to go help him!"

"Don't bother." She said with a smile, "He's entered into the legend, Vegeta. He's the true Super Saiyan, and it's more beautiful than anything I've ever seen."

"You're delusional from blood loss, woman. Whatever Kakarot's latest zenkai increased him by, it's nowhere we can't follow." Vegeta glared over at Dende, "Well? Help her, Namek brat!"

"It wasn't a zenkai, it was a transformation." she said as Dende's healing hands worked their magic. 

"He became an ape?"

"No." she said, her voice taking on a mystified tone, "He became a God."

"Feh." Vegeta dismissed it with a wave of his hand.

"Feel his ki, Vegeta. He's fighting Freeza to a standstill, right now." 

Vegeta concentrated only for a half-second, before the magnitude of the two of them bombarded his senses. "Oh gods..." he muttered, "That's..."

"He's magnificent, Vegeta. I've decided." 

"Decided what, woman?" Vegeta asked suspiciously. 

"That Kakarot is the next King of the Saiyans." she said, utterly sure of herself. 

"How dare you!" Vegeta growled.

"I'm going to make him an Emperor the likes of which the galaxy has never known, and I'll rule at his side. The moment I get him alone, I'm going to-" she said, her face beginning to flush.

Gohan was outraged, kicking her, "Don't talk like that about my Dad! He'd never do something like that! Besides, he's not evil like the rest of you! He wouldn't want to be an emperor of anything!"

"I agree with the brat, on all accounts. I don't need to hear a damn thing about what you're going to do with Kakarot while alone. And Kakarot's too soft to conquer any world let alone the universe, he has no pride, wants no glory, he hasn't even conquered his home planet filled with nothing but easily ruled weaklings!" 

"Irrelevant." She said with a smirk, "We'll begin with children, that'll be the easy part." she ignored Gohan's glare, "And then I'll lead him to his glorious destiny, one step at a time. I'll find a way to make him see sense."

"Hah! I'd like to see you make the attempt." Vegeta dismissed, before taking off into the air, flying towards the battle.

Aspara smirked, patting Gohan on the head as she passed, "I hope we'll become good friends." she said, prompting him to glare at her, before she laughed and took off after Vegeta. 

Gohan sighed, looking behind him at the two Namekians, before realizing why they had been so quiet. Krillin's body laid there on the ground, lifeless. "Oh... Krillin." Gohan said sadly. "He's already been brought back once by the Earth's Dragon Balls."

"Why wouldn't they bring him back a second time?" Nail asked, respectfully picking up the body.

"That's just how Earth's Dragon Balls work." Gohan said with a sad smile. "Let's see about getting to the Grand Elder and fixing this, then."

"Right." Dende said. "There should be two more wishes left!"

[Hello?] All three of them froze in place as they looked around for the source of the voice, [Don't bother, this is the North Lord of Worlds. The truth is, both wishes are going to be used. It's the only way to save Namek. Err... the Namekians. The plan was, surprisingly, Son Goku's.]

"My Dad's plan?" 

Nail narrowed his eyes. "Wait, you said it would save the Namekians... but not Namek itself?"

[Look, the planet's doomed anyway! Freeza's destroyed the world's core.]

"Our home..." Dende said quietly. 

[Don't cry! Come on, chin up! Goku's going to send you all to Earth!]

"Earth? With the wish?" Nail asked, "I suppose, if there's no other choice. Why hasn't it happened already?"

[Goku wants to beat Freeza first.] King Kai muttered, his voice dripping with irritation.

"Ah, that makes sense." Gohan said, smiling a little. 

[I contacted you to tell you that you need to hold onto Krillin when the teleportation happens, or else when we do revive him, he'll just come to life in the middle of Goku's trap and die instantly again.]

"Goku's trap?"

* * *

 "Let's see how you like it!" Freeza cried, sending the spinning discs of energy after Goku, who avoided them easily, vanishing and reappearing throughout the air over the hole in the planet, leaving afterimages behind. 

"I'm getting bored, Freeza." Goku said simply. "At your maximum power, this battle was fun, but you've just been getting weaker and weaker. You're not a threat any more." his hair fell back down, the gold light vanishing away.

"Liar!" Freeza cried, abandoning the Kienzan to swipe at Goku, but his hand merely passed through the after-image. "I... I can't lose! Not like this."

"I'll give you one last chance, Freeza." Goku said, his voice hard. "And only one. If you value your life, disappear. Don't hurt anyone ever again, and I'll let you escape this world."

"Fool! I don't need to escape, it's you who needs a way out! I'll survive the explosion, and it'll be only a matter of time until my loyal soldiers retrieve me from space! But you, and every life form on this world will perish!"

"You're wrong." Goku said, "Can't you see the sky?"

"The death spasms of Namek are messing with the atmosphere, what of it?"

"I keep forgetting, you can't sense other's energy. It's strange, that you could grow so powerful without ever being able to feel the power of others... but I suppose it just goes to show what kind of person you are that you can't."

"What does this prattle have to do with anything?"

"Our first wish brought back the Dragon Balls on my homeworld."

"The- then my dream of immortality-"

"We used that wish right away. Every Namekian who you murdered, as well as anyone else you've killed, was resurrected. My son is alive again. And you should be very grateful for that. If he was lost forever... well, I would have just tormented you before abandoning you to your fate."

Freeza gulped, "Get on with it, Saiyan!"

"Well, by bringing back the Guru, we brought back Namek's Dragon Balls, which have three wishes. We used one to lay a trap for you. A final ultimatum. You said there was one thing that could kill you."

"I did?"

"Didn't you? Earlier you said nothing less than a black hole would be able to kill you." Goku shrugged, "I really hope that wasn't just some kind of alien turn-of-phrase or something. It'd really suck if we went through all this trouble, and you could live through one anyway."

"A... a black hole?!" Freeza asked, incredulous, "Impossible. We're nowhere near one!"

"So you are scared then? That's good. Our second wish was that if Planet Namek was destroyed, it would turn into a black hole."

"N-no. Nonononono!" Freeza panicked, looking around him, "My ship, I need to get to, no, it would still pull me in, I need to... you would die too, you filthy brute! And all the Namekians! Your son, he would die a second time!"

"And that brings us to the last wish, the only one yet to be made... is to transport every living thing on Namek to my homeworld, Earth. With a potential exception. You."

"Why haven't you done it already?" Freeza asked, "You said earlier I couldn't be forgiven!" the tyrant dared to hope, searching Goku's eyes.

"You were so powerful... and your potential is even greater. You could have been such a powerful force for good, and you threw it away... but I want to believe, after seeing that strength for myself, that you should be given a second chance anyway. Besides..." he grinned, jerking his thumb at his own face, "I'm a Saiyan after all! I love a good fight more than almost anything, and how I am now, who else can give me a challenge?"

"Fine." Freeza said, "I'll be a 'force of good'. Now get me off of this rock!"

Goku shook his head, "Convince me."

"We have only minutes! Perhaps seconds! Before this world is gone and you damn us to crushing death in a singularity!" Freeza growled. 

The Super Saiyan walked forward, and placed his hand on Freeza's head, the Arcosian was about to back away, but he didn't sense any malice in it. 

 _He's in my thoughts!_ Freeza realized. "Get out of my head!"

"This is your chance to convince me. Convince yourself. You're done with destroying worlds and killing innocents, one way or another. Either you make yourself believe that right now, or you die."

"I..."  _I'll be good. I promise. My father will destroy you- no no! I'll convince him and Cooler- No! I, I can be a good person, really! It's just pointless for other beings to exist if they aren't useful! No! I didn't mean that! Filthy monkey trash, I mean, you're disgusting brutes by nature but, no I can change I can help I can be good I'll kill you I don't want to die- NO! NO! I hate you! I promise that I'll pretend, NO, I will! I will until you're no longer suspicious and DAMN IT ME. I don't want to die!_

Goku sighed, pulling his hand away. "Too bad. A lot of the people I know, used to be villains. Killers. But when they see there's another way, that someone can become stronger without being a monster... they realize they were going about things wrong. Some of them took time, like Piccolo, but you're a worse person than he was."

"Don't leave me here to die!" Freeza begged. 

[Goku don't you dare.] King Kai chastised, [You gave him far more of a chance than he deserved already!]

Goku only hesitated another moment, before looking to the sky, "It's just. Go ahead, King Kai."

"NO!" Freeza shouted.

The two other Saiyans were only just beginning to appear on the horizon, seeing Goku and Freeza as two tiny dots hovering over the great hole in the world. They felt it as Freeza called upon every last bit of his reserves, unleashing a wave the likes of which could have destroyed Namek all over again, this time in an instant.

Vegeta flinched in mid-air, instinctually backing away from it, but Aspara grabbed him. "Just watch." 

"Darn it Freeza!" Goku cried, his hair flaring gold once more, his aura's brightness making him a spot of yellow in the crashing wall of red. Goku wrenched his hands to the side, pouring out his own ki and weaving it into Freeza's blast, taking control and redirecting it away from the planet and out into space. 

When Freeza was spent, Goku dropped the Super Saiyan transformation once more, looking bruised but not beaten. With a ruthless strike with his foot, Freeza was sent flying downwards, into the deep chasm, where the unraveling molten core of Namek coming apart deep inside it. 

"NO!" Freeza cried, staring up at Goku getting farther and farther away as he descended into darkness. 

Then Goku vanished, along with every other life form on Namek. 

Besides Freeza. 

The Arcosian looked away from the light above him, instead looking at the light below him. The core was shaking, writhing, and then promptly collapsed. Freeza watched as the crust of Namek was eaten away by the explosion, the outer surface breaking up around the upwelling of magma, before suddenly everything stopped. The force of the explosion, pushing everything away, stilled, and then reversed. Freeza felt the pull like nothing else, and he tried to fly upward, struggling to rise away from the retreating magma and crumbling stone. Soon, the red light of Namek's innards was snuffed out, vanishing into the center and being compressed to nearly nothing. 

"No no no no no!" Freeza screamed into the void, chanting the mantra as he tried to escape the pull. He began to go deaf as all the air vanished into the singularity below, nothing left to carry sound. He went blind as the light of the three nearby stars began to get pulled in, only his immense power, his remaining ki, and his absolute determination to not die keeping him from sinking into the black hole with it. But he couldn't escape. He could keep himself from disappearing only by pressing forward to his very limits. 

He bit back the urge to simply fall and end it, his hands curling in pain and effort. He was willing his body to push forward, ever forward. He would not dip over the edge into the black hole!

But even that determination wasn't enough to escape.

* * *

 Aspara blinked at the blue sky over her head, and the clean air in her lungs. They were in a wide open field, almost a reversal of Namek. Rich green grass where Namek had blue, deep blue skies where Namek had a shade of green. 

"Where are we?" Vegeta asked, looking to her as more and more people began to appear. Over a hundred Namekians suddenly dotted the hills, and countless animals and strange amphibians began to slowly wander away, exploring their new surroundings. 

A distance away, she spotted a disruption where some Nameks were shouting at Bulma, who was trying to explain why they shouldn't take revenge on the pile of unconscious aliens in Freeza Force armor behind her. Aspara was about to head over, when Goku appeared behind her, breathing a sigh of relief at seeing his own world again. 

"Where's Freeza?!" Vegeta demanded, "Please tell me you didn't force us all to run! He was weak, if we don't finish him now-"

"He's finished." Goku said definitively. Smiling a little at Vegeta. "You don't have to worry about seeing him again."

"How?!" Vegeta demanded. 

"I wished on the Dragon Balls to turn Namek into a black hole once the planet exploded, which it was a few seconds away from doing." Vegeta stared at him, "Is that not going to be enough?" Goku asked, looking nervous.

"You know, I'd say turning the ground beneath their feet into a black hole would be overkill for fighting anyone, but against that power I felt at the end... Maybe it wasn't overkill." Vegeta grinned evilly, "But it was definitely good old-fashioned kill."

"Well... that's good." Goku said. 

Aspara wrapped her arms around one of Goku's arms, pulling him close to her, "You defeated Freeza before we teleported away, even if he somehow survived it, you'd be able to defeat him easily. Especially if we can make you even more powerful."

Goku laughed nervously, before pulling away, to Aspara's disappointment and Vegeta's amusement, "Well, we'll just have to wait and see if he ever turns up. Though for now, I'm going to call today a win."

Aspara agreed wholeheartedly. "I'm going to check up on my men and the Ginyu Squad." she looked out over the crowd of Namekians, and noticed Gohan with Nail and Dende, "And there's your boy over there."

"Ah! Gohan!" Goku shouted, nearly tearing up. "Gohan!"

Aspara smiled as he met his son in the air, the boy, upon hearing his father's voice calling for him, flew straight for him, meeting half-way and gripping each other in a tight hug. Even Gohan's explanation of why they had brought Krillin's body was more hopeful than sad.

Dende soon had a reunion of his own, finding Cargo and embracing his younger brother. This one, Aspara was more than willing to break up, "Dende!" She shouted, and the Namekians around them suddenly weren't smiling any longer, inching back, terrified of her new level of power. 

Dende slowly released his younger brother, and moved forward, "Yes?" he asked, looking behind him, glad that Nail was watching carefully. 

"I want you to heal my men and the Ginyu Force."

"No!" a Namekian cried, and Aspara simply raised an eyebrow.

"You think you can stop me?"

"The Elder takes priority!" he shot back, and sure enough, the Grand Elder wasn't looking good. Aspara frowned, glancing at Dende's puppy-like expression, before sighing in disgust with her own sentimentality, waving him off.

"Fine, fine. I'm sure if they were going to croak they would have."

Nail watched, his heart strained, as Dende flew over to the Grand Elder, his healing magic covering the ancient Namek, before looking around, trying to take measure of the situation. "We were brought here to... well, my best guess is Earth... I suppose by the Dragon Balls. Why?"

"Freeza was going to destroy the planet, according to the Super Saiyan." Aspara answered, "We can assume he succeeded. He definitely had the power to."

Nail nodded, before focusing on something far away. "Some of your men are up and about."

"Are there other Namekian healers?"

"No, but- wait, the wish that was made to bring us all back, did it bring back the other soldiers?"

"It might well have."

"Then we have a problem." He said, gesturing towards a small group of perfectly-fine Freeza Force soldiers who were walking up from where they were hidden by a hill. At the sight of the advancing group, the Namekians began to bind together, the soldiers rushing to stand in front of the others. "I'm going to prevent a bloodbath." Nail said.

"Allow me." she said instead, hovering down so that the Freeza Force soldiers could see her. None of the ones she had killed on the ship were there, but she picked out Turmerc in the crowd well enough. "All of you! You are now under my command!"

"Where's Lord Freeza?!" One of them shouted, a lieutenant, Appule, rising up from the ground. 

"He's dead." She said, and then smiled at their mixed reactions. Some didn't believe it, others looked elated, while others seemed terrified.

"Impossible." Appule shouted, "No one can kill Freeza!" 

"Fine, believe me or not." Aspara said, "But I am more powerful than the lot of you! That's for sure! Do you see Captain Ginyu and his men's mangled bodies? I did that!" she said proudly, "And I could do it again even more easily. And whether or not Freeza is dead, he isn't here. And I am. Anyone who doesn't like it, can-"

"We'll build space ships for you to leave in." Goku interrupted, "My friend Bulma is great with technology, and her Dad built a ship fast enough to get to Namek in only six days."

"..." she looked at him in surprise, "Fine. Anyone who doesn't wish to follow me is free to go." she said, "It's beneath me to kill you all anyway." 

Goku smiled at her, before looking to Freeza's remaining soldiers, "But don't any of you dare making trouble here on planet Earth." with the warning given, "Just be patient, we'll get around to helping everyone out!"

"They'll be patient." she promised to Goku, and a glare in the direction of the aliens was enough to send a shiver down their spines. "So, what's the big deal? If all of you who died were brought back to life, then there should be twice this number here... in fact, none of the soldiers I killed are here."

"I... I was killed by Vegeta." Appule said. 

Cui nodded, "Same here."

"I got killed by Freeza!" another said nervously, one of the ones who only looked relieved at the news of Freeza's defeat. 

Turmerc nodded, "I was killed by Vegeta too... but, Aspara, you need to know, I wasn't going to betray you because I wanted to! It's just Freeza was too powerful, there was no hope-"

"And yet I prevailed, didn't I?" she said, glowering at her traitorous soldier. She was about to knock his head off, but she was deeply aware of Goku not too far away. Perhaps Vegeta did have a bit of a point about Kakarot being too soft. "I've already said I wouldn't kill you. But the warning that man just gave, take it seriously. He's the man who killed Freeza! I don't care if you believe that or not, I can't prove it, but the knowledge that I acknowledge him as my superior should be enough to know he's not to be trifled with. No killing the natives of this world!"

Once she was sure she got enough confirmation from the group, she took back to the air, "Follow me. The Ginyu Force and my personal Squad are ahead."

The group flew to the other side of the field, joining Bulma where she looked somewhat relieved to see another woman, as well as others in Freeza Force uniforms. 

"Hey there! We haven't met yet, uh, don't mind the armor, I'm an earthling, and a friend of Gohan and Goku's!"

"Good to meet you." Aspara said, "Thank you for protecting my men. I owe you. It'd be troublesome if the Namekians killed them while they were prone." The particularly wrathful Nameks, many of them victims of the half-dozen uniformed aliens with Aspara.

"No problem! Though... if we're talking favors, I stole this off of an asshole who blew up the ship me, Krillin, and Gohan came here in. He had an arm cannon, but it was left behind on Namek. I'd appreciate it if-"

"Turmerc." She said, smirking. With a sigh, the furry alien tossed her his arm cannon, to Bulma's glee. She wasn't going to kill him, but there'd be no harm in picking on him. Besides, it would be good to keep on the good side of people Goku trusted. 

The angry Namekians as one seemed to calm down, shifting focus to the center of their congregation, where the Grand Elder said his last words, declaring the Elder Tsuno as his successor, he proclaimed his desire that the Dragon Balls glow once more, and that his people would find a place where they could be safe forever, before he passed, his body vanishing in recognition of his virtue.

Tsuno, suddenly finding himself the ultimate authority among Namekians, immediately sought out Bulma. With a nod of acknowledgment toward Aspara, still feeling grateful for her stopping Vegeta from destroying his village, whether she was ultimately on the same side as him or not, Tsuno gave a bow toward Bulma. "Earthling, If we could ask for your hospitality, can you show us a location where we might spend our time here on your world?"

"Sure! All of you aliens are personally invited to join me at the Capsule Corp. main building! We have plenty of space for all of you!"

Tsuno looked over Aspara's gang of murderers. "...We would be sharing this space with the invaders? No, I should not complain. We will accept your hospitality with gratitude."

Bulma looked awkwardly between the two groups, but was thankfully saved by the arrival of Piccolo, flying across the sky alongside his counterpart, Kami. "Is that..?" Dende asked, shocked at the presence of two entirely unfamiliar Namekians. 

"Ah! Mister Piccolo!" Gohan shouted, breaking away from his father in order to embrace his sensei. 

Piccolo smiled fondly down at Gohan, before chopping the boy on the head. "You got yourself killed!" Piccolo growled at him. 

"B-But-" Gohan began to tear up, and Goku was about to intervene, when Piccolo ruffled the younger half-Saiyan's hair, calming him down. 

"I sacrificed my life for you, Gohan. Don't go throwing it away so easily! I'd be even angrier, honestly, but it's... nice, to see so many other Namekians."

"Greetings, Son Goku. Welcome home."

"It's good to be back, Kami."

With that, Kami turned to Grand Elder Tsuno. "And greetings to you, too. To all of my forgotten people."

"You are the son of Katas!" Tsuno said, "We had thought that he must have died in space."

"No, in fact, I think we did quite well for ourselves on this world. If you are seeking a place to dwell, I offer my Lookout to you. But if any of you are planning to take an extended stay on this world, I know of a place that will suit you... the gods know that Yunzabit Heights is a barren place, but I spent my childhood there. There is remarkably clean water, it is isolated and naturally protected from earthling influence, and... it always felt nostalgic. I do not remember Namek, or carry my father's memories of our homeland, but I believe that it looked similar to Yunzabit."

Tsuno was touched, and he embraced the Earth's guardian. "Throughout my life, I have known countless brothers, and a father... but I am thrilled to find that we have a cousin!" He turned to address his one hundred and eight siblings. "Fellow Namekians, our long-lost cousin has offered us a place to dwell, here on his adopted world." Tsuno offered his hand to Bulma, who shook it, "Thank you for your generosity, but... It would not be good to create conflict in your home." Tsuno glared at the aliens behind Aspara.

"Welp." Bulma said, looking to Aspara's much smaller group, as well as Vegeta, who had been watching the proceeds quietly while leaning on a nearby tree, "I guess I'll only have to prepare a couple Capsule Houses rather than forty of them."

"Thank you. I suppose I'll owe you another favor?" Aspara asked.

"Nah, this one's on the house!" Bulma said cheerfully. "Besides, I'm already building you guys' space ships. It'd be for the best if you stayed nearby."

Aspara nodded. "Ah! I nearly forgot! Dende!" she shouted, before the Namekian group could take off to follow Kami to the land he wanted to show them. 

"Yeah?"

"My men? And the Ginyu Force?"

"Oh! Got it, sorry!" the diminutive Namekian flew past her, and made quick work of healing each of the soldiers, before backing off and flying back to the rest of his people, waving back to her. 

Goku and Gohan waved back, watching the Nameks take off for Yunzabit Heights. 

Piccolo frowned at the alien soldiers, before looking to Goku and Gohan. "Should I stick around in case they're trouble? Kami can handle giving the tour to my cousins."

"No, we'll make sure they know not to mess with things." Goku said, sure of himself. "But before you go, it's good to see you again, Piccolo."

The Namekian smirked, before flying off to join his brethren. 

Captain Ginyu was the first to stir, jumping to his feet, and looking around him in confusion, the first thing he noticed being the still-unconscious bodies of his squad, as well as the unconscious bodies of Aspara's squad and then- he froze in fear, staring at Gohan, Goku, Aspara, and Vegeta, watching him. He immediately assumed a fighting stance, looking first to the sky to make sure there was no full moon. "What... what do you want?" he asked, looking between them, "Why am I still alive! Know that I won't give you any information belonging to Lord Freeza, no matter how much you torture me!"

"Freeza is dead, Ginyu." Vegeta snarled. 

"What?" he asked, shocked. "You're lying!" it was only then, finally, that he realized he was on a completely different planet. "What the hell?"

"I'm not lying." Vegeta said, "Check your damn scouter, why don't you?" 

"Fine." Ginyu turned his scouter on, and was baffled by the sheer number of life forms on the planet. He had been conquering Yardrat, before he was pulled away to help on Namek, and that planet had a population of only a few million. Namek only a few hundred, but on this world... billions. Shaking his head free from the irrelevant thought, he turned his scouter on, and told it to find the highest power level there at- "Th-th-th-three million..." he stammered, utterly terrified by the number on his scouter, as he read Goku. He knew Freeza had other forms, more powerful than the one that Ginyu knew, but even that weakest form had a strength of over 500,000! He had thought only a Saiyan in an Oozaru form could hope of reaching it, but now... it had been surpassed utterly. He didn't think his scouter was broken either, for some reason. The beings in front of him just... radiated strength. 

"Yep." Vegeta said, gleeful at Ginyu's distress. "Kakarot was the one to do the last blow, but me and Aspara aren't far behind this whelp! So, Ginyu, do you understand the situation you're in?" 

Ginyu looked between them, then turned to his men, shaking them awake, in the process, accidently waking Aspara's four. He silenced the round of questions bubbling up from the confused soldiers, but Aspara's squad quickly ran over to take their places behind their Captain. 

"Cap'n Ginyu?" Recoome asked.

Ginyu, making sure his people were properly awake, turned back to the Saiyans. And promptly dropped to the ground, putting his forehead against the green grass. "I Captain Ginyu, formerly of the Planet Trade Organization, hereby pledge my allegiance to-" he then hesitated, looking between the three full-blooded Saiyans.

"The Legendary Super Saiyan, and King of all Saiyans." Aspara said, gesturing to Goku. "Kakarot."

"I pledge my services to King Kakarot!" he said, and with a quick glare back at his team, they did the same, repeating the mantra. 

"WHAT?!" Goku and Vegeta shouted at once, and Gohan looked annoyed. 

"I told you, Dad doesn't want to be a King!" Gohan shouted back. 

"Too late." Aspara said, "He has a followers who pledged loyalty to him now."

"I uh, really don't want it." Goku said, looking confused. "I don't want to rule anybody. As long as you promise not to harm the earth in any way, you're free to go."

"We have pledged our lives to you!" Ginyu said, determined. "The Ginyu Force don't go back on their word!"

"Well, Captain, if he doesn't want our services, maybe we should just take his offer and go-" Guldo began.

"It's a matter of the honor of the Ginyu Force's good name!" Captain Ginyu shouted.

"You pledged allegiance to the King of all Saiyans, which doesn't exist. No breach of honor exists." Vegeta snarled, narrowing his eyes at Aspara. "My father was the King."

"The strongest Saiyan has a right to be the king, if he is acknowledged." Aspara said, and Vegeta flinched, "Feel free to challenge him for the title, if you think you can defeat the Legendary Super Saiyan."

"Hey!" Goku said, the group directing their attention to him, "I don't want to be king." he said, "Period."

"See! He doesn't care about the title in the first place!" 

Aspara frowned at Goku, "Why not accept the title?"

"I just don't feel right doing it. I'm not interested." He said, looking at her with less amusement now. 

"It's Saiyan tradition and law. The strongest have the right to rule. All the Saiyans acknowledge you as the strongest, even if there are only the three of us. You're our king, whether you like it or not."

"He's not my king!" Vegeta growled, walking away from the group, over to Bulma, "It's only a matter of time before I overcome you, Kakarot! I don't acknowledge you! And as for you, sister, I won't forget this." he walked over to Bulma and looked down at her, "Earth woman, you were offering dwellings?"

"Go ahead with him." Aspara ordered to the half-dozen survivors of Freeza's Namek invasion force, as well as her own four squad mates. "Eenud, you're in command. Everyone present-" she gestured at the survivors, "-is now a member of the Aspara Squad, until we get a better name for it. Eenud, be gracious to our new host, and make sure everyone else is too... and all of you are loyal to me, not to Vegeta, understood?!"

"Yes Ma'am!" Eenud said cheerfully, before sheparding the newly-revitalized Aspara Squadron to follow after Vegeta and Bulma. 

Goku and Gohan watched the display, and Goku was quickly picking up on Gohan's dislike of Aspara. That didn't bode well, she decided, "Kakarot?" she asked. 

"I'm not going to be your King."

"Just... just bear with me for a second." she said, "It's a title, and an important one, but for Saiyans, it's not something you can choose. It's something that you are. I'm sorry for thrusting it onto you, but you're already... my king, at least." 

Goku sighed, "Can't Vegeta be your king?"

"He can't. He's not stronger than me, not by enough." she smiled hopefully, "Besides, is it really a bad thing to have the Ginyu Force, and myself, loyal to you? Behind Freeza, these fellows were some of the most powerful warriors in the galaxy. As for myself, I'm the second, possibly third, strongest thing in the universe. No matter what you're setting out to accomplish, we can help."

Goku pulled his hand through his hair in frustration. "I... I guess you have a point. But can you please not call me your king? It's weird!"

"What would you have us call you then?" Ginyu asked, standing up, giving the sign to his team that they could stand up as well. 

"Not King Kakarot, for starters." Goku said. "My name is Son Goku. I don't care what I was named at my birth, the person who raised me named me that."

She disliked that he was throwing away his Saiyan name, but she supposed in the long run it'd be better if she accepted it. 

"Son Goku it is."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Power Levels:  
> Goku: 3,000,000 SS1: 150,000,000  
> Freeza: 70%) 84,000,000 100%) 120,000,000 Weakening) 70,000,000  
> Aspara: 2,000,000  
> Gohan: 200,000  
> Vegeta: 2,000,000  
> Piccolo: 300,000  
> Appule: 6,000  
> Cui: 18,000  
> (I'm compromising and only posting Power Levels that are relevent)


End file.
